Numan Kurtulmus elected Türkiye's new parliament speaker

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish parliament on Wednesday elected Numan Kurtulmus, joint nominee of the Justice and Development (AK) Party and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), as its new speaker.

Kurtulmus, an AK Party lawmaker from Istanbul, got 321 votes in the third round of voting in parliament with 600 seats. He was elected to a two-year term.

Under the Turkish Constitution, the parliament speaker is elected via secret ballot for up to four rounds – as many as are necessary – on a single day.

In the first two rounds, no candidate got a two-thirds majority (400) in the 600-seat parliament.

In the third round, a minimum of 301 votes was needed to win the vote.

Tekin Bingol, candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), got 160 votes, while the Green Left Party (YSP) candidate Tulay Hamitogullari Oruc got 51 votes.

IYI Party candidate Mustafa Cihan Pacaci got 43 votes.

Serafettin Can Atalay, an MP of the Türkiye Labor Party (TIP), got four votes.

The other two candidates, Mustafa Yeneroglu of the Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party and Serap Yazici Ozbudun from the Gelecek (Future) Party withdrew from the elections in the third round.

A total of 584 lawmakers cast their votes, while five votes were declared invalid.