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Support from DEM Party to the People's Alliance in Parliament Speaker elections

AKP Istanbul Deputy Numan Kurtulmuş has been elected Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) for a second term. While Kurtulmuş received 306 votes in the second round of voting, he increased his tally to 329 in the third round; meanwhile, the drop in votes for the DEM Party candidate Cengiz Çandar from 47 to 18 drew attention.

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The election for the new term of the Parliament Speakership was held during the voting session at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey last night.

The winner of the race was AKP Istanbul Deputy Numan Kurtulmuş, who was elected after receiving 329 votes in the third round. Thus, Kurtulmuş has been elected to the position of TBMM Speaker for a second time.

In the election, CHP candidate and Artvin Deputy Uğur Bayraktutan received 118 votes, the DEM Party's nominee, Diyarbakır Deputy Osman Cengiz Çandar, received 18 votes, IYI Party's Istanbul Deputy Mustafa Cihan Paçacı received 26 votes, and Samsun Deputy Mehmet Karaman, representing the New Way Party (Yeni Yol Partisi), also received 26 votes. One vote was cast blank, and 11 votes were deemed invalid.

In the third round, candidates were required to surpass the absolute majority of 301 votes. As the only candidate to cross this threshold, Kurtulmuş was declared the Speaker of the TBMM once again.

A REMARKABLE DROP IN THE SECOND ROUND

While it was observed that DEM Party candidate Cengiz Çandar received 47 votes in the second round of the election, it did not go unnoticed that this number fell to 18 in the final round. This decline was interpreted as the DEM Party making a different choice in the third round.

The voting in the second round had concluded as follows:

  • Numan Kurtulmuş: 306
  • Uğur Bayraktutan: 120
  • Osman Cengiz Çandar: 47
  • Mustafa Cihan Paçacı: 27
  • Mehmet Karaman: 30
  • Blank vote: 2
  • Invalid vote: 11

SURPRISE SUPPORT FROM DEM PARTY?

In the election where the MHP did not field a candidate, it had previously announced that it would support Numan Kurtulmuş as the candidate for Parliament Speaker. The support that pushed Kurtulmuş's votes to 329 in the third round sparked debate. It was alleged that a portion of this support came from the DEM Party.

IYI Party Adana Deputy Ayyüce Türkeş Taş voiced this claim in a post on her social media account, stating, “The parliament speaker elections for the second term of the 28th Legislative Period have been held. In the 3rd round, Numan Kurtulmuş, supported by the AK Party, MHP, HÜDA PAR, and the DEM Party, was re-elected as Parliament Speaker with 329 votes. In summary, the DEM Party, the new member of the People's Alliance, has officially declared itself. Our parliament speaker, who should be impartial, also declared his side in his thank-you speech and loudly proclaimed his dream of building a ‘Terror-Free Turkey’ with terrorists as if it were a joint decision of the parliament.”


CHP Ordu Deputy Mustafa Adıgüzel also made a similar assessment, including the following remarks in his social media post:

“We were at the general assembly for the TBMM Speakership election. Numan Kurtulmuş, who was elected speaker with the votes of the AKP, MHP, and DEM Party, made a call for a so-called civil, democratic, participatory, and inclusive constitution in his thank-you speech.”