Turkish Parliamentary speaker to be elected today

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Cemil Çiçek (L) in a meeting with religious minority representatives including Chief Rabbi İshak Haleva (2nd L) and Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew (2nd R). AA photo

The Parliament is due to elect the next term’s Parliament speaker today, while Cemil Çicek, the candidate nominated by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who is currently in office, is expected to defend his seat, mainly thanks to his efforts in Constitution-making process.

In a session of the General Assembly at 3 p.m., candidates of three parties in the parliament, namely Çiçek from the AKP, Faruk Bal from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Osman Korutürk from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), will compete for the 36th office term of the Parliament speaker, as the current term ends on July 4.

According to the Constitution, for a new parliament speaker to be elected, one of the candidates must receive two thirds of all votes, during the first two voting sessions, which amounts to 367 votes in total. If such level of support cannot be attained, on the third session, simple majority, amounting to 276 votes, will be sought. If the third session too fails to yield any result; on the fourth voting session, the candidate who receives the highest number of votes will become the new parliament speaker.