Pro-gov’t columnist: Erdoğan wouldn’t hold an election he would lose

Murat Akan, a columnist for the pro-government Diriliş Postası daily, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will not allow an election to be held if he sees he will lose it, the T24 news website reported on Sunday.

“Don’t lose your concentration. Don’t get into a panic, Reis [Erdoğan] will not allow an election to take place that he will lose,” Akan tweeted on Thursday.

“The June 24 election is not an ordinary presidential election. It is a move to rescue Turkey from global tutelage and gather the Ummah [Muslims] under Turkey’s umbrella,” Akan said in another tweet the same day.

Akın has written a number of books, among them “NATO’s War with Islam” and “Superior Mind.”

In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Erdoğan said he has plans A, B and C if his party loses its majority in Parliament in the general election on June 24.

Meanwhile, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesperson Mahir Ünal said on Saturday that opinion polls conducted for the party show President Erdoğan will have 54-56 percent of public support in the first round of the presidential election on June 24, the state-run Anadolu agency reported on Saturday. Speaking to Kanal 7, Ünal also said according to the opinion polls, the ruling AKP will have support of between 46 and 48 percent in the parliamentary elections.

However, a recent poll by the SONAR polling company showed that Erdoğan may not win a majority in the first round of presidential election on June 24, hinting that he might garner only 42 percent of the vote, according to the Sözcü daily.

According to the poll, which was conducted between May 7 and 17 on 3,000 people in 26 provinces, Erdoğan garnered 42 percent support in the first round of votes, whereas Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Muharrem İnce had 21,91 percent, İYİ (Good) Party candidate Meral Akşener had 21 percent, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) candidate Selahattin Demirtaş had 11,01 percent, Felicity Party (SP) candidate Temel Karamollaoğlu had 2.10 percent and the ultranationalist Homeland Party (VP) candidate Doğu Perinçek had 1.98 percent.

The poll indicated that the total share of the opposition alliance between Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), İYİ Party and Felicity Party (SP) could surpass Erdoğan.

Another survey conducted by MetroPoll indicated that the AKP and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), were seen to be attracting support from 54 percent of the electorate in the June 24 general election.

On Saturday, İYİ Party’s presidential candidate Akşener has said she will support CHP candidate Muharrem İnce without any conditions if he runs in the second round of the presidential election on July 8, the Diken news website reported on Saturday.

“We have already declared that we will support whoever runs in second round [of the election against Erdoğan] without any conditions,” Akşener said in a TV appearance on Halk TV. “We do not need to discuss those issues today. We have to go all out to win the presidential election,” she added.

The HDP has already declared that they will support İnce in the second round of voting but hinted a distance from Akşener. President Erdoğan and his government last month decided to hold snap parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24. (SCF with turkishminute.com)

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