Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains the preferred president of Turkey with the support of 35.4 percent of those polled, ahead of possible candidates such as the opposition mayors of Ankara and Istanbul, reports the website "Haberler", quoted by BTA.
In response to an open question "Who do you want to see as the next president?" 35.4 percent chose the current head of state, 28.6 percent preferred Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, and 22.7 percent preferred Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
They are followed by the imprisoned pro-Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtaş with 4 percent support in the poll, and Ümit Özdag, leader of the opposition Victory Party, with 3.4 percent.
5.9 percent of those surveyed chose another candidate.
The poll was conducted among 3,200 people by the HBS Araştırma polling agency at a time of ongoing discussions about the need for early elections in the country.
According to the Turkish constitution, Erdogan cannot run in the 2028 presidential election, as he is currently in his second and final term. The law allows an exception only if parliament calls early elections.
Erdogan has ruled Turkey for over 21 years, first as prime minister and then as president.
The last parliamentary elections in Turkey were on May 14, 2023, when the ruling AKP received 35.62 percent of the vote against 25.35 percent for the Republican People's Party (CHP). The first round of the presidential election was held alongside these elections, and in the end, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected in a runoff on May 28 of that year.
However, in the local elections on March 31 of this year, the AKP lost the elections on a national scale for the first time, and the CHP was the winner. Erdogan's party was also defeated in many of the largest cities, including Istanbul and Ankara.