2023 Turkish parliamentary election

2023 Turkish parliamentary election

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All 600 seats in the Grand National Assembly 301 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	87.05% ( 0.83 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar İbrahim Akın Party AK Party CHP YSGP Alliance People Nation Labour & Freedom Last election 42.56%, 295 seats 22.65%, 146 seats 11.70%, 65 seats[a] Seats won 268 169 61 Seat change 27 23 4 (as HDP) Popular vote 19,387,412 13,791,299 4,803,774 Percentage 35.61% 25.33% 8.82% Swing 6.95 pp 2.68 pp 2.88 pp (as HDP)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Devlet Bahçeli Meral Akşener Fatih Erbakan Party MHP İYİ YRP Alliance People Nation People Last election 11.10%, 49 seats 9.96%, 43 seats – Seats won 50 43 5 Seat change 1 New Popular vote 5,484,515 5,272,482 1,529,119 Percentage 10.07% 9.69% 2.81% Swing 1.03 pp 0.27 pp New   Seventh party   Leader Erkan Baş Party TİP Alliance Labour & Freedom Last election – Seats won 4 Seat change New Popular vote 940,230 Percentage 1.73% Swing New
Results per electoral district Top party per province and district
Speaker of the Assembly before election Mustafa Şentop AKP Elected Speaker of the Assembly Numan Kurtulmuş AKP

Parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on 14 May 2023, alongside presidential elections, to elect all 600 members of the Grand National Assembly. The incoming members formed the 28th Parliament of Turkey. The elections had originally been scheduled to take place on June 18, but the government moved them forward by a month to avoid coinciding with the university exams, the Hajj pilgrimage and the start of the summer holidays.^[1] Prior to the election, the electoral threshold for a party to enter parliament was lowered from 10% to 7% by the ruling party.^[2]

The elections were contested by a total of 24 political parties. Some parties decided to participate in the elections as part of an electoral alliance, many of which were formed for the previous 2018 election and had been expanded since. The governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) of incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lead the People's Alliance, which also included the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Great Union Party (BBP) and the New Welfare Party (YRP). The largest opposition alliance was headed by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and included five other parties. These included the Good Party (İYİ), the Felicity Party (SP), the Democrat Party (DP) and two other parties headed by former senior AKP politicians, namely the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) of former economy minister Ali Babacan and the Future Party (GP) of former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.^{[citation needed]} The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) opted to run on the lists of the Party of Greens and the Left Future (YSGP) in light of a potential closure case. The YSGP itself headed the left-wing Labour and Freedom Alliance along with the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP). Two smaller alliances, the Ancestral Alliance of presidential candidate Sinan Oğan and the Union of Socialist Forces, also participated in the elections for the first time.^[3]

The People's Alliance retained its majority in the parliament with 323 MPs. The AKP, led by incumbent president Erdoğan, won the highest percentage of the vote with 36%, though it suffered its worst result since 2002. MHP, the second largest party of the People's Alliance, outperformed expectations and won 10.1% of the votes. The alliance overall won just under 50% of the vote. The Nation Alliance only marginally improved on its 2018 vote, winning a combined 34% and 212 MPs. The Labour and Freedom Alliance suffered a decline in their vote, winning just over 10% and 66 seats. No other electoral alliance won seats. The election resulted in seven parties entering the parliament, which is a record in Turkish politics.^{[citation needed]}

Many smaller parties ran on the lists of larger ones to avoid splitting the vote. Prior to the election, the CHP caused controversy by fielding 77 DEVA, Felicity Party, Future Party, and Democrat Party candidates on its own lists, of which 39 (14 DEVA, 10 Felicity, 10 Future, 3 Democrats, 1 IYI, and 1 Party for Change in Turkey) were elected — a significantly higher proportion than these parties' national share of support.^[4] These included former AKP ministers such as Sadullah Ergin (running as a DEVA candidate), who was widely criticised for his role as Justice Minister in the Ergenekon conspiracy against the Turkish Armed Forces. The AKP, meanwhile, was criticised for fielding members of the Free Cause Party (HÜDA PAR), a party known for its ties to the Kurdish Hezbollah, as candidates.^{[citation needed]}

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