Parties start to reveal Parliament speaker candidates

AS PARLIAMENT speaker İsmail Kahraman’s two-year term expires, the political parties represented in Parliament have started to reveal the names of their candidates to fill the position. The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) yesterday announced that İzmir Deputy Zekeriya Temizel is its candidate. The pro-PKK Democratic Peoples’ Party (HDP) has also determined its candidate, announcing that it nominated Hakkari Deputy Selma Irmak as a candidate for the position following intra-party negotiations.

The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) candidate is expected to be determined today following a meeting with the participation of AK Party cadres. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to determine the AK Party’s candidate for the position after holding consultations with party members in the meeting today. It is expected the party will discuss renominating Kahraman.

Although Kahraman might be renominated, AK Party cadres can also consider nominating a new candi- date for the position. During the meeting, the AK Party is expected to also tackle the issue regarding determining its group deputy chairman and members of Parliament’s Bureau of the Assembly. Although the party is likely to determine its candidate today, it will announce its candidate on Nov. 12.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has also yet to announce its candidate, but will most likely decide on its candidate in the following days.

MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli said the party’s nomination for the upcoming Turkish parliamentary speaker elections will be from among party members, like in the previous elections.

Responding to questions from reporters at his office yesterday, Bahçeli said the elections should not cause any deep arguments and polarization within the assembly itself. He said the next parliamentary speaker should be someone who can learn from previous experiences; make the Parliament work in a more productive way and keep parliamentarians away from any kind of conflict.

The election is expected to be carried out between Nov. 17 and Nov. 21, as scheduled. AK Party Group Deputy Chairman Mustafa Elitaş previously said the election will likely be on Monday, Nov. 20 if all parties finalize their candidates.

The Parliament speaker election will be carried out with secret voting and will end at most in four rounds. In the first and second rounds, a two-thirds majority is required. In the third round, an absolute majority is sufficient to elect the new speaker.

Accordingly, 367 deputies should be present at Parliament in the first and second rounds and 276 deputies should be present in the third round. If Parliament cannot reach an absolute majority in the third round, the two candidates who received the most votes in previous rounds will compete in the fourth turn. The candidate who receives the most votes in the fourth round will become the new speaker, whose term will last two years.