Main opposition CHP eyes 35 percent of votes in local elections

ANKARA

DHA Photo

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is aiming to gain 35 percent of votes nationwide in the upcoming local elections by convincing more women, young people and Kurds to vote for the party.

“Undecided voters have increased to 25 percent of total voters according to our surveys; [the CHP] can be counted as second largest party of Turkey. What we are endeavoring to do here is to overcome the possible prejudices against us, because our target is to gain 35 percent of total votes. This means we have to win 10 percent more of total votes,” CHP deputy chair Gülseren Onanç said at a Feb. 13 breakfast meeting with reporters.

Onanç said her party was preparing for local elections in the light of opinion polls they had conducted. The CHP’s primary target groups for local elections are housewives, young people and Kurds, according to Onanç.

“Forty-seven percent of housewives are voting for the [ruling] Justice and Development Party [AKP]. And there’s a considerable group of undecided voters, a majority of whom are housewives. What they are looking for, how we can persuade them, we are trying to understand that,” Onanç said.

A considerable portion of young voters are voting for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is “surprising” for the CHP, Onanç added. “As a libertarian party, we have to gain youth votes, but a considerable portion of youth lean toward the MHP. I cannot understand how the idealism of youth corresponds to the MHP, but we are trying to understand,” she said.

Onanç also said they were studying Kurdish people’s expectations and would create a communication strategy based on their survey.