12.02.2026 15:40
While the Indigenous and National Party's 9.8% vote potential drew attention in the ORC's February 2026 survey, the survey company's general manager, Mehmet Pösteki, stated, "It seems that the high number of people saying 'I could vote for them' is likely due to the name of the party being the subject of criticism. To avoid leading to manipulative statements, we will conduct our future studies on the vote rates and potentials of political parties with open-ended questions."
The "Potential Voting Power of Political Parties" survey conducted by ORC Research between February 4-6, 2026, sparked a public debate. In the survey, the voting potential of the National and Indigenous Party, which has 137 followers on the X platform, was measured at 9.8%.
AK PARTY IS IN FIRST PLACE
In the research conducted by ORC with 2,800 participants in 26 provinces, the AK Party ranked first with 44.1%. The voting potential of the CHP was announced as 38.9%. The MHP appeared at 22.7%, the Good Party at 15.2%, the DEM Party at 14.5%, and the Victory Party at 12.0%.
DETAILS OF THE NATIONAL AND INDIGENOUS PARTY CAUGHT ATTENTION
One of the striking headlines in the research was the National and Indigenous Party. According to the survey, the party reached a voting potential of 9.8%. In the same study, the voting potential of the New Welfare Party was shared as 9.6%, and the Felicity Party's was 7.4%. Thus, the National and Indigenous Party positioned itself above both parties.
STATEMENT FROM ORC GENERAL MANAGER PÖSTEKİ
Following the controversial data, ORC Research General Manager Mehmet Pösteki made a statement. Pösteki used the following expressions regarding their methods:
"In this survey, we read the 'party names' one by one and ask the voter, 'Can you vote for this party?' We announce the total of the responses 'I Definitely Would Vote and I Could Vote' under the heading of voting potentials to the public. Perhaps due to the name of the party that is the subject of criticism, those who say 'I could vote' are coming out higher than expected. When we do not include minor parties in our research, we receive backlash. When we read the names of the parties one by one, such results emerge; when we do not read and share them, we are criticized for 'ignoring' them. To avoid leading to manipulative statements, we will continue to conduct our studies on the voting rates and potentials of political parties with open-ended questions and announce them to the public."