Local Polls Show Waning Erdogan Support & Discontent With Impending Migrant Flows

LOCAL NEWS

• EU's Borrell says Turkey will be very important in limiting refugee flows from Afghanistan as they make their way towards the EU.
  • Says EU will work closely with a number of countries to avoid a humanitarian crisis – but has fallen short of indicating new funding offers.
  • CHP party hung a giant banner yesterday at its HQ in Ankara saying "borders are our honour" against the admission of more refugees
• New survey from Yoneylem Research shows Erdogan lagging behind opposition candidates from the CHP & IYI parties, but voters still expect his victory in the next election.
  • 55% said they would "absolutely not" vote for Erdogan, while 33% expressed the opposite. CHP leader Kilicdaroglu, Mayor Imamoglu & IYI leader Aksener scored above Erdogan with voters. Voters said Erdogan's handling of the economy was the main issue alongside migrants, corruption & terrorism.
  • 40.9% said Erdogan would still win, however, pointing to low faith in the possibility of fair elections
• Konsensus poll shows only 9% of Turks believe the borders should be open to refugees. Of 1500 participants 67% said "no more refugees should be admitted to Turkey" while 23% partially agreed
  • AKP & MHP agree to lower election threshold to 5% from 10% for parties running alone, while the alliance threshold remains at 10%. This benefits the MHP by allowing smaller parties to participate without forming alliances whose support is ~10%.
  • Erdogan said no agreement on the matter has been reached but is under discussion with the MHP