Turkish Parliament likely to hit new record number of women candidates

Bülent Sarıoğlu - ANKARA

The popular Şafak Pavey will run from the top spot for the CHP in Istanbul’s first voting area. DHA Photo

Turkey’s Parliament is likely to hit a record high in the number of women deputies after the June 7 elections, as the lists of women MP candidates for all four parties currently represented at parliament show an unprecedented increase. 

While the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) topped the list by nominating 268 women candidates in its 550-person deputy election list, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) followed with 103 women candidates. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came in third with 99 women candidates and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) trailed with 40. 

If the HDP manages to pass the 10 percent election threshold to enter parliament and if the other three parties get a similar percentage of votes, as in the 2011 general elections, then the number of women deputies is likely to increase to around 90 out of the 550-seat parliament. 

The General Assembly currently has 79 women deputies. Forty-six of them are from the AKP, 19 are from the CHP, three are from the MHP and 11 are from the Freedom and Democracy Bloc, under the umbrella of the HDP. 

Among the prospective women candidates, Selina Özuzun Doğan, a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin, will run for parliament as the CHP’s top nominee from Istanbul’s second election area. 

Dilek Öcalan, the niece of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan, is running for parliament in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa for the HDP. 

Fatma Varank, a candidate for the AKP, is the cousin of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s advisor Mustafa Varank. 

The popular Şafak Pavey will run from the top spot for the CHP in Istanbul’s first voting area, while Selin Sayek Böke, an economist who recently joined the CHP, will run from the top spot in İzmir’s first election area. 

Another woman candidate, Saniye Barut, also secured the top spot of the CHP’s list in the eastern province of Tunceli.