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Support rising for Turkey's AK party
Support for Turkey's Islamist rooted ruling AK Party has risen slightly after it escaped being closed in a Constitutional Court case, according to a poll published on Saturday.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:02 August 10, 2008
Istanbul: Support for Turkey's Islamist rooted ruling AK Party has risen slightly after it escaped being closed in a Constitutional Court case, according to a poll published on Saturday.
The poll, carried out by Metropoll, is one of the first since the court case and showed the party would win 41.9 per cent of votes if parliamentary elections were held today, compared to a figure of 40.4 per cent in a poll published by the same agency in June.
Although the party escaped closure, it was found guilty of being a focal point for Islamist activities by the court last week and had half its funding cut.
Of those polled, 73 per cent said they wanted to see the party change its policies, which analysts say provoked the closure case. The poll appears in the Vatan daily.
Fruitless attempt
The AK Party's attempt to overturn a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities was declared to be unconstitutional and rankled members of the secular elite in predominantly Muslim but officially secular Turkey.
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The poll surveyed 1,226 people in 26 of Turkey's 81 provinces. It showed the army was still the most trusted institution in the country with a score of 8.7 points out of ten against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's 6.4 points.
The military, part of the secular elite, has gone head to head against the AK Party at times, and retired military officers are being tried among others for being part of a plot to overthrow the government.
The AK Party swept to power in 2002 and won 47 per cent of the votes in July last year.
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