Over 43% of Turks to Vote for Erdogan in Upcoming Election: Poll

ISTANBUL (Sputnik) - At least 43% of Turkish citizens are ready to re-elect President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the upcoming election, giving him a clear lead over his nearest competitor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, an opinion poll by Optimar stated.

The survey was conducted from February 19-23 in Turkiye's 26 provinces among 2,000 participants. It was one of the first opinion polls conducted in the country after the earthquakes.

According to the poll, 43.2% of respondents will vote for Erdogan at the presidential election, while 13.5% of the voters will support Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People's Party, and another 11.8% will cast their votes for Mansur Yavas, the mayor of Ankara, the opinion poll showed.

Ekrem Imamoglu, who is currently the mayor of Istanbul, can count on the support of 8.8% of the respondents, the survey said.

Over 72% of respondents are confident that the election will take place on May 14 and will not be postponed, the results of the survey said.

On Wednesday, amid public discussions concerning the severe earthquakes that hit Turkiye on February 6, Erdogan confirmed that the country's general election will take place on May 14. Turkiye's six opposition parties have not announced their single presidential candidate yet, but the majority of the opposition parties' members tend to support the capital's mayor, Yavas. After its meeting on Thursday, the alliance of the six opposition parties has not named its candidate, however, another meeting is scheduled for Monday.