Turkey election 2023: Supporter of incumbent President Erdogan in the election campaign © Francisco Seco/dpa
Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu go head-to-head in polls: the economy, justice and refugees are the focus of voters, according to a survey.
Ankara (Turkey) – The Turkish election goes into overtime on Sunday (28 May): In the race for the presidency, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Social Democratic challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu will face each other in the first run-off election in Turkey's history. While opposition leader Kilicdaroglu was given a good chance of victory in the first round of the election – he was well ahead of his opponent in polls – Erdogan is now generally considered the clear favorite.
But the portal Al-Monitor has made a survey of almost a thousand voters, which shows a different picture: According to this, the two opponents are almost equal. And there would still be many undecideds who did not have a favorite by the end of the poll on May 23.
Poll ahead of Turkey's run-off election: Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu are almost tied
| Recep Tayyip Erdogan | 40 percent |
| Kemal Kilicdaroglu | 39 percent |
| Draw | 15 percent |
| Non-voters | 6 percent |
The survey was conducted by Al-Monitor among 970 eligible voters in all regions of Turkey, the survey period was between May 19 and 23, and the deviation rate could be +/- three percent.
Turkey election 2023: These are the top topics in polls ahead of the run-off election
More than 57 percent of respondents said that food prices and inflation were the biggest problems in Turkey, according to Al-Monitor, making the economy an important issue for the election. About 52 percent of respondents said they trust Erdogan in terms of business, while only 48 percent thought Kilicdaroglu was more capable.
Kilicdaroglu, on the other hand, convinced 57 percent of voters that he could get a grip on the situation with refugees from Syria for Turkey, while only 43 percent trusted the incumbent president to do so. According to the survey, 71 percent of those surveyed want Syrian refugees to return to Syria. Among respondents, 11 percent put the issue of "independence of the judiciary" in third place among the issues for the election, while Erdogan's top issue, national security, was decisive for only 3 percent.
Polls for the Turkish run-off election were not correct in the first round
According to international observers, Erdogan has found his way back to his old strength ahead of Sunday's run-off election. Contrary to the Al Monitor survey, political experts believe it is likely that Erdogan, who has been in power for 20 years - first as prime minister, since 2014 as president - will secure another term in office.
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Before the first round of voting, Erdogan had lagged behind Kilicdaroglu in most polls. In the first round of elections on 14 May, neither candidate had achieved the necessary majority; Erdogan, however, narrowly missed it with 49.5 percent of the vote, while 44.9 percent of voters voted for Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan's Islamic-conservative AKP and its allies also retained their clear majority in the parliamentary elections taking place at the same time. (dpa/kat)
