Despite fast-growing economic challenges, Turkey’s political opposition seems to have so far failed to broaden their core supporter base as recent polls suggest support for Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party is increasing. 

After several attempts, six opposition parties got together for talks Feb. 28, and then again a month later. For years, Turkey’s political opposition has been criticized for being “too divided” against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s pragmatic political alliance with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party. Now six of the political parties have managed to sit together and pen a document with the common goal of reinstituting Turkey’s parliamentary system that was replaced by the executive presidency in 2018, paving the way for Erdogan’s one-man rule. The six parties also announced they would conduct monthly meetings.

Although the attemtps at unity are recent and the elections are still over a year away, these gatherings did not generate much excitement on Turkey’s social media sites. Indeed, some of the most popular reactions were from Erdogan supporters who simply ridiculed the process. 

Turkey’s prominent pollster Metropoll's March poll showed that 46.3% of respondents did not even know about the opposition’s Feb. 28 gathering. More importantly, some 58% of those respondents were among the “undecided voters,” ahead of Turkey’s presidential and general elections scheduled to be held in June 2023. So why has Turkey’s major opposition parties united front against Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party failed to garner public attention? The question is crucial amid rampant discussions whether Turkey’s political opposition will be able to change the country's authoritarian drift.