People line up to buy subsidized vegetables at a tent set up by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality in the Cankaya district of the Turkish capital on Feb. 13. Turkey's economy, as well as its Kurdish issue, are likely to be hot topics ahead of municipal elections on March 31.
Editor's Note : This assessment is part of a series of analyses supporting Stratfor's upcoming 2019 Second-Quarter Forecast. These assessments are designed to provide more context and in-depth analysis on key developments over the next quarter . Pocketbooks and the Kurds are likely to be foremost on most voters' minds when Turkey heads to municipal polls on March 31 for an election that will provide a barometer of the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) support. In 2014, the last time voters elected mayors in Turkey, the AKP captured over 40 percent of the vote, finishing well ahead of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which scored about a quarter of the votes, as well as the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
