Turkey – Legislative election

In Turkey the legislative election was held on Sunday. The turnout was 86.7%. Here is the result:

Justice and Development Party (AKP) – 49.9%, 326 seats (-15)
Republican People’s Party (CHP) – 25.9%, 135 seats (+23)
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – 13%, 53 seats (-18)
Independents – 6.3%, 36 seats (+9)

Note, the Independents are all or mainly members of the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). There is a 10% national threshold for political parties to gain representation. However, independents can be elected at the local level. Therefore, the BDP candidates stood as independents to circumvent the high national threshold.

The vote for the CHP increased by 5% from 2007. However, the ruling AKP has been easily returned. Its vote was up by 3% compared with 2007, though it won slightly fewer seats. This last point might be crucial. To change the constitution unilaterally in parliament (a referendum would still then be required) the AKP needed 330 seats. So, even though the AKP has done very well, the result may hinder its plans for constitutional change, which include reforming the presidency.

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