Turkey's supreme election board readjusts constituencies, Istanbul to be represented with 97 MPs

ANKARA

The Supreme Election Board (YSK) has readjusted the number of representation of each constituency at the parliament after a recent constitutional amendment increased the number of lawmakers from 550 to 600.

Istanbul will have the highest representation in parliament with 97 lawmakers instead of the current 88. 

The changes made by the YSK have been published in the Official Gazette on July 27, which announced the new proportional representation of the constituencies. As a result of the changes, Ankara will also increase its representation from 32 to 36. Ankara will be divided into three constituencies and Bursa into two constituencies.

İzmir, Turkey’s third largest city, will have 28 seats, two more than the current representation. Other big cities like Antalya, Bursa, Gaziantep, Mersin, Kocaeli, Şanlıurfa will each have two more lawmakers in parliament.

Other cities that will have greater representation in the parliament are Adana, Afyonkarahisar, Ağrı, Aydın, Balıkesir, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Elazığ, Hatay, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Ordu and Batman.

In line with the changes, 32 cities in parliament will have increased representation. 

The number of lawmakers in the parliament has been increased to 600 as a result of the April 16 referendum that changed the government system into an executive-presidency.