‘No’ votes ahead in Istanbul ahead of referendum: Main opposition CHP leader

ISTANBUL

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Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has quoted pollsters as saying that “no” votes in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, are in the lead ahead of the April 16 referendum on whether to shift to an executive presidential system. 

“According to the polls, ‘no’ votes are at least 53 percent in Istanbul,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, addressing his party’s supporters in the Maltepe district on Istanbul’s Asian side. 

His words come with four days left before the referendum, as opinion pollsters begin to reveal their final findings. 

Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi recently quoted İbrahim Uslu, the head of the ANAR polling company, as saying that “yes” and “no” votes were very close at the start of campaigning but “yes” votes are now ahead on around 53 percent. 

However, Uslu also warned the number of “shy voters” who are reluctant to voice their real choice is likely high, referring to respondents who are reluctant to tell pollsters their real choice. He noted that this may have been a major reason behind polling errors ahead of the Brexit vote in the U.K. in June 2016. 

The daily Sözcü newspaper, meanwhile, quoted SONAR head Hakan Bayrakçı as saying that “no” votes are ahead on 51.5 percent. It also reported that the Konsensus pollster found “yes” votes ahead but the difference was within the margin of error.