Number of women MPs in Turkish parliament drops after Nov 1 vote

ANKARA

Hürriyet Photo

The number of female deputies representing the four political parties in the Turkish parliament has dropped from a record number of 95 to 81, the unofficial results of the Nov. 1 snap elections have revealed.

Accordingly, some 21 seats occupied by female deputies from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) will still be held by women when the 26th term of parliament opens following the announcement of the official results by the Supreme Election Board (YSK). 

Yet, the other three parties will have less female deputies when compared to the 25th term of parliament, which opened after the June 7 parliamentary elections and served for only five months. 

The Justice and Development Party (AKP), which managed to win a landslide victory sufficient to form a single-party government, will have 34 women lawmakers, while this number was 40 after June 7. The number of women deputies from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) dropped from 30 to 23, while the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has again come up with the least number of women deputies, with a decrease from four to three.

Among those 81 deputies, 13 of them will be serving their first terms as MPs.

According to unofficial results by the state-run Anadolu Agency, the AKP will hold 317 seats, the CHP will hold 134 seats, the HDP will hold 59 seats and the MHP will hold 40 seats as a result of the Nov. 1 vote.