Less than 35 percent of Turkey supports the executive presidential system, a five-percentage point decline from this summer, according to a December survey by Ankara-based pollster Metropoll.
A total of 34.5 percent said Turkey should continue with the current system, which came into effect in 2018, while 58 percent said the country should go back to the parliamentary system, Birgün newspaper cited the survey as having found.
A June survey by Metropoll had revealed 40 percent support for the presidential system.
Turkey’s executive presidential system, which was ushered in with the June 2018 elections, has come under criticism for eliminating the prime minister’s post while transferring executive powers to the president, who rules with only limited checks and balances.
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan touts the system as facilitating a smoother running of government and has dismissed calls by the opposition for returning to the previous system.
A total of 22 percent of participants supporting Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said they supported the parliamentary system, while this figure rose to 45 percent among supporters of AKP’s junior coalition partner, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Metropoll survey found.
Source: Ahval
