Turkish parliament sees highest number of female MPs

By Ali Kemal Akan

ANKARA (AA) – Since women were given the right to elect and be elected in Turkey, women representatives in the current Turkish parliament is at its highest.

After the Dec. 5, 1934 amendment on the Constitution and Election Law granted women the right to elect and be elected, 17 female deputies entered the Turkish parliament for the first time as a result of the elections held on Feb. 8, 1935.

Following this date, the ratio of women’s representation in the assembly remained between 0.7% and 4.6%.

That ratio could not be surpassed till the 23rd term in 2007.

In the parliament, where 550 deputies work in total, the female representation rate became 9.1% in 2007; 14.3% in 2011, 17.6% on June 7, 2015 election, and 14.7% on Nov. 1, 2015.

As of the last election held, the figure has risen to the highest level to date since 1934’s legal regulation.

In the 27th term parliament, which has 600 MPs, 104 female deputies entered the elections on June 24, 2018, pushed the female representation rate to 17.1%.

The proportion of female MPs represented in the 25th term *Parliament, which had 550 MPs, was 17.6% in the election on June 7, 2015.

- Most female MPs in AK Party

According to the last distribution of seats, 54 out of 289 deputies in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) are women, as well as 17 female deputies of 138 in the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), 23 of 56 in the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), 4 of 48 in the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), 2 of 36 in the Good Party (IYI Party) are located.

HDP has the highest female deputy ratio among the parties in the assembly.

27th term parliament, which currently has 584 deputies due to losses for various reasons, 101 of them are female. This brings the proportion of women represented in the assembly to 17.29%.

The youngest MPs of the 27th term parliament consist of female ones.

*Writing by Merve Berker