Sunday’s elections resulted in many surprises and a colorful Turkish Parliament, as new faces emerged and some parties could win seats in provinces they previously failed in.
Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) candidate Filiz Kılıç became the first woman lawmaker elected in Nevşehir province. She is among the three lawmakers elected in the area. The other two lawmakers are from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Both the MHP and the AK Party are members of the People’s Alliance. Elvan Işık Gezmiş became the first woman elected lawmaker in the Black Sea province of Giresun. Gezmiş was the leading opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate. Further east in Rize, CHP’s candidate Tahsin Ocaklı became a lawmaker for the first time in 43 years. Also, in Erzincan, CHP won a seat for the first time since 2015 after former district mayor Mustafa Sarıgül. Also, the chair of the Party for Change in Türkiye was elected. May 14 elections also marked the first time for CHP to win a seat in the southeastern Diyarbakır province after 21 years.
Meanwhile, 2006 Miss Türkiye pageant winner Seda Sarıbaş became a lawmaker from Aydın province.
There will be five lawmakers under 30 in Parliament in the next term. Four lawmakers are from the AK Party, while one is from the Green Left Party (YSP). Twenty-five-year-old Zehranur Aydemir, who previously worked in the ruling party’s youth branch, became a lawmaker from the capital Ankara. Former lawmakers Rümeysa Kadak, Mesut Bozatli and Eyyüp Kadir Inan from the AK Party, all under 30, have become lawmakers. The Green Left’s 28-year-old candidate Beritan Güneş Altın won a seat in Mardin province.
There will be 479 male and 121 female lawmakers in Parliament. The AK Party has 50, the MHP has four, the CHP has 30, the Good Party (IP) has six and YSP has 30, while the Worker Party (TIP) has one female lawmaker.
Most lawmakers come from a legal background, as a majority of them are lawyers, but there will be engineers, physicians, sociologists, pilots, teachers, farmers, dentists, journalists, pharmacists, archaeologists, artists, and nurses in Parliament.
Mervan Gül, who sacrificed his parliamentary seat in the 2003 elections for the election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was back at Parliament two decades later from the AK Party.
Gül was first elected as a lawmaker in the 2002 elections from the AK Party in his constituency Siirt. When the vote was canceled in Siirt over a set of irregularities, the Supreme Election Council (YSK) ordered a renewal of the election. The second election came at a time when the political ban on Erdoğan was lifted. Gül gave up his candidacy for the election of Erdoğan, who was nominated from Siirt, which also happens to be the hometown of first lady Emine Erdoğan. The renewed election paved the way for Erdoğan to be elected into Parliament and launched his lengthy leadership career, crowned with another victory in the presidential vote on Sunday.
Erdoğan paid off his political debt to Gül by nominating him in the first place in Siirt, a seat Gül won on Sunday as the sole lawmaker from his party to be elected in the eastern province.
One of the surprises of the election was the runaway success of the New Welfare Party (YRP) founded about four years ago. Led by Fatih Erbakan, son of late prime minister Necmettin Erbakan who was a political mentor of Erdoğan, the YRP secured five parliamentary seats in the first election it competed. Though it supported the People’s Alliance of Erdoğan in the presidential elections, the party fielded its own candidates in the parliamentary polls. Along with Fatih Erbakan, two candidates from Istanbul were elected to Parliament, while the YRP managed to win seats in Kocaeli and Konya as well. Konya, in particular, was significant for YRP as it has long been a stronghold of Necmettin Erbakan in the elections. Ali Yüksel, a close friend of late Erbakan, won the Konya seat for the party.
Celebrities, prominent journalists and writers were among the “losers” of the parliamentary elections. Famous TV actors Mehmet Aslantuğ, Serhat Özcan and Barış Atay nominated by the TIP, failed to secure a seat. Hasan Cemal, an elderly journalist and writer and Kerem Fırtına, an actor known for his role in the popular TV series “Valley of the Wolves,” also lost the legislative election they run for the YSP. Ilyas Salman, an actor known for his comedic roles in the heyday of Turkish cinema, who was nominated by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) also lost. Irem Yaman, a member of the Turkish national taekwondo team and footballer Gökhan Zan who were nominated by the IP but failed to garner enough votes in the elections as well.
