Amid heated election debates in Turkey, recent polls show that the opposition bloc made up of six parties is gaining ground against the current government. Turkish voters will cast their votes on May 14 to select their new president and the members of the parliament. According to the latest opinion polls conducted by four different companies, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the presidential candidate of the opposition bloc, called the National Alliance, is ahead of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the longest-serving leader in the country's history. Based on the surveys, Erdogan's rival is leading the race with more than 50% of voters support whereas the current president's support stands at 44% percent on average. Currently, six names announced their candidacy for the presidential elections. If no single candidate secures more than 50% of votes in the first time round, a run-off between the top two rivals will be held on May 28. The projections paint a similar picture for the parliamentary race too with the National Alliance wining the highest number of seats against the duo, the ruling AK Party and its nationalist ally MHP, also known as People's Alliance. A poll published by Aksoy Research showed the National Alliance secured 44.1% support while People's Alliance earned 38.2%. The same poll puts pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) vote share at 10.3%. Alf Research announced that the opposition bloc earned 43.5% of support. The poll conducted on March 6-7 also highlighted that 11.3% of voters favored HDP. A survey by Piar Research is no different with the main opposition bloc gaining 46.4%, while AKP and MHP with 37.8% according to the results published on 10 March. The Supreme Election Council's list shows that 36 parties will field candidates in the parliamentary elections. — Euronews
