Islamist party sees Erdoğan support eroding
A SMALL Turkish Islamist party is targeting religious voters it says are disenchanted by the authoritarian rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, aiming to erode his support in what may turn into a closely-fought parliamentary vote.
The Saadet (Felicity) Party has never won more than 2.5 per cent of the vote in parliamentary elections, but its alliance with secularist and nationalist opposition groups has boosted its chances of winning seats for the first time on June 24.
With polls showing Mr Erdoğan’s ruling AK Party and its nationalist partner gaining around 50 per cent support, marginal swings either way could prove crucial to his hopes of a majority in the legislative assembly.
Turkey’s most successful modern politician, Mr Erdoğan remains strong favourite to win re-election the same day to a newly empowered executive presidency. But losing control of parliament could offset some of the sweeping powers he has fought to win.
A strong showing by the Saadet Party, which shares the same Islamist roots as the AK Party, could also help the opposition attract enough voters away to force the presidential vote into a second round, when the opposition alliance has agreed to unite around a single candidate.
Saadet Party leader Temel Karamollaoğlu said Mr Erdoğan’s party had strayed from its founding principles, and said his group was ready to capitalise on disillusioned AK Party supporters.
“We now think that around 15 per cent of voters are unhappy with the government’s actions and are in search [of another party]. I believe the majority will lean towards us,” he said.
During the 1990s Mr Karamollaoğlu and Mr Erdoğan were comrades in the Welfare Party, which formed Turkey’s first Islamist gov- ernment but was toppled in 1997 and later banned. Mr Erdoğan’s political breakthrough came when he was in the Welfare Party ranks, as he won İstanbul mayoral elections in 1994.
A survey by pollsters Mak, viewed as sympathetic to the ruling party, showed last week that the parliamentary race is too close to call, with the AK Party together with its nationalist allies winning exactly 50.0 per cent.
In the presidential vote, it put Mr Erdoğan at 51.4 per cent. Support for Mr Karamollaoğlu as presidential candidate is somewhere between 2 and 3.5 per cent, according to polls.