Pro-Kurdish HDP, the Third Largest Bloc in the 25th Turkish Parliament
10:05 - 9 June 2015
Kurdpa: On June 7, Turkish voters went to the polls in Sunday’s parliamentary elections. More than 86 percent of them cast ballots, a high level of participation that shook the face of Turkey’s political future.
Losing its 13 years parliamentary majority, the Islamist Justice and Development Party, also known as AKP, led by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, entered the election with 327 seats in the 550-seat parliament. This time, the AKP only garnered just over 40 percent or 258 seats, not enough to form a majority government.
The Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, or CHP, Turkey\'s most prominent moderate republican party, won nearly 26% of the vote -- improving significantly on its 2011 performance of some 20.5%.
Third in the standings, the ultra-Turkish nationalist Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, or MHP, also improved its standing to 16.5% today from 14% in 2011.
Unquestionably the biggest winner in Sunday\'s vote was Turkey\'s long-overlooked and oppressed Kurds. Kurds represent Turkey\'s largest ethnic minority, and majority of Kurds are in Turkey followed by the Kurdish population in Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The Halkların Demokratik Partisi, or HDP, co-led by Selahattin Demirtas secured 13%, well above the 10% needed to enter parliament as an official party for the first time.
HDP, now with well 80 seats is the third largest political party in the 550-seat parliament.
Writing by Kurdpa Staff Writers and editing by Hazhir B. with information from the agencies.
Losing its 13 years parliamentary majority, the Islamist Justice and Development Party, also known as AKP, led by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, entered the election with 327 seats in the 550-seat parliament. This time, the AKP only garnered just over 40 percent or 258 seats, not enough to form a majority government.
The Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, or CHP, Turkey\'s most prominent moderate republican party, won nearly 26% of the vote -- improving significantly on its 2011 performance of some 20.5%.
Third in the standings, the ultra-Turkish nationalist Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, or MHP, also improved its standing to 16.5% today from 14% in 2011.
Unquestionably the biggest winner in Sunday\'s vote was Turkey\'s long-overlooked and oppressed Kurds. Kurds represent Turkey\'s largest ethnic minority, and majority of Kurds are in Turkey followed by the Kurdish population in Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The Halkların Demokratik Partisi, or HDP, co-led by Selahattin Demirtas secured 13%, well above the 10% needed to enter parliament as an official party for the first time.
HDP, now with well 80 seats is the third largest political party in the 550-seat parliament.
Writing by Kurdpa Staff Writers and editing by Hazhir B. with information from the agencies.
