MHP will endorse AKP nominee for parliament speaker

ANKARA

President Erdoğan (R) and MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli. File photo

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) will not present a candidate for the Turkish Parliament Speaker elections and instead will support the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) nominee, a senior party official has announced. 

“The MHP will not represent a candidate for the parliament. It will back the AK Party’s candidate,” deputy MHP leader Mustafa Kalaycı told Anadolu Agency late June 28 in an interview.

The AKP and the MHP have established what they call the “People’s Alliance” before the June 24 polls as the latter supported President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the presidential race. The MHP’s decision to support the AK nominee for parliament speaker is regarded as the continuation of the partnership between the two parties in the new era.

The process for the election of the parliament speaker will begin after parliament convenes on July 8 for the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected 600 lawmakers. The election of the parliament speaker requires two-thirds majority in the first two rounds and a simple majority in the third round.

The AKP with 295 seats and the MHP with 49 seats have 344 lawmakers in total in the 600-seat parliament and therefore will be able to elect the parliament speaker in the third round.

There are rumors that current Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım is having chances to be nominated as the AKP’s candidate for the position. Yıldırım has been serving as the last prime minister of Turkey as his office has been abolished in line with the shift into the executive-presidency model.

The election of the parliament speaker is expected to conclude by mid-July. Parliament will go to recess until Oct. 1 after the parliament speaker is elected.