Parliament takes shape for 28th legislative term
ANKARA
The unofficial results of the parliamentary election on May 14 have revealed that the People’s Alliance led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) garnered 321 lawmakers as the opposition Nation Alliance remained at 213.
The ruling People’s Alliance — formed by the AKP, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the New Welfare Party (YRP) and the Great Union Party (BBP) — achieved the majority among the three alliances formed for the parliamentary polls as the AKP received 266 seats (35 percent), and the MHP gained 50 lawmakers (10 percent), while the YRP had five parliamentarians in the 600-seat legislature.
Four candidates of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Free Cause Party (Hüda-Par), which support the People’s Alliance, were included in the AKP’s lists in the election and were elected as MPs.
The Nation Alliance — made up of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the İYİ (Good) Party, the Felicity Party, the Democracy and Progressive Party (DEVA), the Future Party, and the Democrat Party (DP) — had 213 lawmakers with CHP gaining 169 (25.3 percent) and İYİ Party earning 44 seats (9.7 percent).
The DP, the DEVA, the Future Party and the Felicity Party included their parliamentary candidates in the CHP lists, securing a total of 34 seats.
Under the Labor and Freedom Alliance, the Green Left Party (YSP) gained 62 seats (8.8 percent), while the Workers’ Party of Türkiye (TİP) had four lawmakers (1.7 percent).
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which is still in the process of the lawsuit filed in the Constitutional Court, announced that it will enter the elections on the YSP lists and was not on the ballot.
The Nation Alliance pledged to introduce a “strengthened parliamentary system,” but it seems they will not be able to secure 360 seats needed to bring about a referendum on ending the current executive presidency.
Meanwhile, cabinet members nominated by the AKP in 16 constituencies, 15 of which are metropolitans, will be in the parliament during the 28th legislative term.
Vice President Fuat Oktay and Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Bilgin will take their places in the parliament as Ankara deputies.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum, on the other hand, gained their seats from Istanbul.
In the country’s southeastern provinces hit by the devastating February earthquakes, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ will represent Şanlıurfa, as Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirişçi was elected from Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the tremors, and Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık from Osmaniye.
Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu will be the AKP’s İzmir MP, while Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank won their seats from Antalya and Bursa, respectively.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez was elected from Eskişehir, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu from Trabzon, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş from Samsun, Education Minister Mahmut Özer from Ordu, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar from Kayseri and Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati from Mersin.
Former ministers Abdulhamit Gül and Faruk Çelik were also elected as the AKP’s Gaziantep and Artvin deputies.
Former Ambassador to Washington Namık Tan, who also served as former president Abdullah Gül’s chief diplomatic adviser, and Mustafa Sarıgül, former mayor of Istanbul’s Sarıyer district, were among the most notable names selected from the CHP lists.
Türkan Elçi, the wife of Tahir Elçi, the former head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association who was killed in an armed attack in 2015, also managed to earn a seat as the CHP’s Istanbul MP.
Ayyüce Türkeş Taş, the daughter of the late Alparslan Türkeş, the founder of the MHP, also entered the parliament after being nominated from Adana by the İYİ Party.