2023 Turkish parliamentary election

← 2018 14 May 2023 Next →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 600 seats in theGrand National Assembly 301 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	87.05% ( 0.83 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar İbrahim Akın Party AK Party CHP YSGP Alliance People Nation Labour & Freedom Last election 42.56%, 295 seats 22.65%, 146 seats 11.70%, 65 seats[a] Seats won 268 169 61 Seat change 27 23 4 Popular vote 19,387,412 13,791,299 4,803,774 Percentage 35.61% 25.33% 8.82% Swing 6.95pp 2.68pp 2.88pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Devlet Bahçeli Meral Akşener Fatih Erbakan Party MHP İYİ YRP Alliance People Nation People Last election 11.10%, 49 seats 9.96%, 43 seats – Seats won 50 43 5 Seat change 1 New Popular vote 5,484,515 5,272,482 1,529,119 Percentage 10.07% 9.69% 2.81% Swing 1.03pp 0.27pp New   Seventh party   Leader Erkan Baş Party TİP Alliance Labour & Freedom Last election – Seats won 4 Seat change New Popular vote 940,230 Percentage 1.73% Swing New
Results by electoral district Most voted-for party by province and district
Speaker of the Assembly before election Mustafa Şentop AKP ElectedSpeaker of the Assembly Numan Kurtulmuş AKP

Parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on 14 May 2023, alongsidepresidential elections, to elect all 600 members of theGrand National Assembly. The incoming members formed the28th Parliament of Turkey. The elections had originally been scheduled to take place on June 18, but the government moved them forward by a month to avoid coinciding with the university exams, theHajj pilgrimage and the start of thesummer holidays.^[1] Prior to the election, theelectoral threshold for a party to enter parliament was lowered from 10% to 7% by the ruling party.^[2]

The elections were contested by a total of 24 political parties. Some parties decided to participate in the elections as part of anelectoral alliance, many of which were formed for the previous2018 election and had been expanded since. The governingJustice and Development Party (AKP) of incumbent PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan lead thePeople's Alliance, which also included theNationalist Movement Party (MHP), theGreat Union Party (BBP) and theNew Welfare Party (YRP). The largest opposition alliance was headed by the main oppositionRepublican People's Party (CHP) and included five other parties. These included theGood Party (İYİ), theFelicity Party (SP), theDemocrat Party (DP) and two other parties headed by former senior AKP politicians, namely theDemocracy and Progress Party (DEVA) of former economy ministerAli Babacan and theFuture Party (GP) of former Prime MinisterAhmet Davutoğlu.^{[citation needed]} The pro-KurdishPeoples' Democratic Party (HDP) opted to run on the lists of theParty of Greens and the Left Future (YSGP) in light of a potential closure case. The YSGP itself headed the left-wingLabour and Freedom Alliance along with theWorkers' Party of Turkey (TİP). Two smaller alliances, theAncestral Alliance of presidential candidateSinan Oğan and theUnion of Socialist Forces, also participated in the elections for the first time.^[3]

The People's Alliance retained its majority in the parliament with 323 MPs. The AKP, led by incumbent president Erdoğan, won the highest percentage of the vote with 36%, though it suffered its worst result since 2002. MHP, the second largest party of the People's Alliance, outperformed expectations and won 10.1% of the votes. The alliance overall won just under 50% of the vote. The Nation Alliance only marginally improved on its 2018 vote, winning a combined 34% and 212 MPs. The Labour and Freedom Alliance suffered a decline in their vote, winning just over 10% and 66 seats. No other electoral alliance won seats. The election resulted in seven parties entering the parliament, which is a record in Turkish politics.^{[citation needed]}

Many smaller parties ran on the lists of larger ones to avoid splitting the vote. Prior to the election, the CHP caused controversy by fielding 77 DEVA, Felicity Party, Future Party, and Democrat Party candidates on its own lists, of which 39 (14 DEVA, 10 Felicity, 10 Future, 3 Democrats, 1IYI, and 1Party for Change in Turkey) were elected — a significantly higher proportion than these parties' national share of support.^[4] These included former AKP ministers such asSadullah Ergin (running as a DEVA candidate), who was widely criticised for his role as Justice Minister in theErgenekon conspiracy against theTurkish Armed Forces. The AKP, meanwhile, was criticised for fielding members of theFree Cause Party (HÜDA PAR), a party known for its ties to theKurdish Hezbollah, as candidates.^{[citation needed]}

The 600 members of theGrand National Assembly of Turkey will be elected byparty-list proportional representation in87 electoral districts, by theD'Hondt method. For the purpose of legislative elections, 77 of Turkey's 81 provinces serve as single districts. Due to their large populations, the provinces ofBursa andİzmir are divided into two districts, while the provinces ofAnkara andIstanbul are each divided into three.^[5]

According to theConstitution of Turkey, any amendment to the election law can only apply a year after it comes into effect.^[6]

At the initiative of the rulingAKP and its main political allyMHP, the nationalelectoral threshold for a party to enter parliament was lowered from 10% to 7%.^[7] This was the first lowering of the threshold since it was introduced by the military junta following the1980 Turkish coup d'état.^[8]

There is no threshold forindependent candidates.^[9] Political parties can also opt to contest the election in apolitical alliance with other parties, removing the 7% requirement as long as the alliance as a whole wins more than 7% of the vote in total.^[10]

Other amendments to the election law includes the distribution of seats. Previously, parliamentary seats were distributed based on the vote share of each election alliance in any given district. Now, the seats are distributed based solely on the vote share of each political party in that district. If applied to the previous elections, the results would have been slightly more in line with the preferences of the voters on local level. For example, oneErzurum seat fromIYI (4th largest party in Erzurum) would have gone toHDP (3rd largest party in Erzurum) and oneElazığ seat fromCHP (3rd largest party in Elazığ) toMHP (2nd largest party in Elazığ).^[11]

Turkey is split into 87electoral districts, which elect a certain number ofmembers to theGrand National Assembly of Turkey. The Assembly has a total of 600 seats, with each electoral district allocated a certain number of MPs in proportion to their population. TheSupreme Electoral Council of Turkey conducts population reviews of each district before the election and can increase or decrease a district's number of seats according to their electorate.

In all but four cases, electoral districts share the same name and borders as the 81provinces, with the exceptions beingAnkara,Bursa,İzmir andIstanbul. Provinces electing between 19 and 36 MPs are split into two electoral districts, while any province electing above 36 MPs is divided into three. As the country's most populous provinces, Bursa and İzmir are divided into two subdistricts while Ankara and Istanbul are divided into three. The distribution of elected MPs per electoral district is shown below.^[12]

For political parties to achieve (nationwide)ballot access, they must be eligible to meet the requirements set by Law no. 298 on "Basic Provisions on Elections and Electoral Registers".^[13]

TheGreen Party, founded in September 2020, has been barred from the election by theInterior Ministry despite a court ruling against the ministry.^[14][15] As of 2022^[update] the establishment of the Humanity and Freedom Party had been awaiting the Constitutional Court for four years after the completion of the legal process.^[16]

On 11 March 2023, theSupreme Election Council confirmed that 36 parties were eligible to run in the elections.^[17]

The table below shows the places of alliances, parties, andindependent candidates in the order they appear on the ballot paper. However, the ballot paper is not the same in every electoral district as some parties do not participate in every electoral district or are on another party's list.

The below table shows the remaining parties that were eligible to contest the election but decided run on the lists of other parties or decided not to field candidates.

Party			Chairperson	Main ideology	Supporting alliance	Course of action
	DEVA	Democracy and Progress Party	Ali Babacan	Liberal conservatism	Nation Alliance	YContesting from list ofRepublican People's Party
	DSP	Democratic Left Party	Önder Aksakal [tr]	Ecevitism	People's Alliance	YContesting from list ofJustice and Development Party
	DP	Democrat Party	Gültekin Uysal	Liberal conservatism	Nation Alliance	YContesting from list ofRepublican People's Party
	SAADET	Felicity Party	Temel Karamollaoğlu	Millî Görüş	Nation Alliance	YContesting from list ofRepublican People's Party
	HÜDA PAR	Free Cause Party	Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu	Kurdish-Islamic synthesis	People's Alliance	YContesting from list ofJustice and Development Party
	GELECEK PARTİSİ	Future Party	Ahmet Davutoğlu	Conservatism	Nation Alliance	YContesting from list ofRepublican People's Party
	BÜYÜK TÜRKİYE	Great Turkey Party	Hüseyin Durmaz	Turkish nationalism	People's Alliance	NThe party withdrew to supportPeople's Alliance[18]
	BTP	Independent Turkey Party	Hüseyin Baş	Kemalism	Nation Alliance	NThe party withdrew to supportNation Alliance[19]
	EMEK	Labour Party	Ercüment Akdeniz [tr]	Marxism–Leninism	Labour and Freedom Alliance	YContesting from list ofParty of Greens and the Left Future
	YTP	New Turkey Party	Engin Yılmaz	Social conservatism	—	—
	TDP	Party for Change in Turkey	Mustafa Sarıgül	Social democracy	Nation Alliance	YContesting from list ofRepublican People's Party
	HDP	Peoples' Democratic Party	Mithat Sancar &Pervin Buldan	Minority rights	Labour and Freedom Alliance	YContesting from list ofParty of Greens and the Left Future

During the election campaign, several occurrences that took place have been labelled as political violence. On 31 March 2023, theIstanbul headquarters of the Good Party was targeted in a shooting attack.^[21] No one was harmed in the shooting. Akşener criticised Erdoğan after the attack by saying "A political party cannot be intimidated one and a half months before an election. We are not afraid. I fear nothing but God. Mr. Recep (Erdoğan), I am not afraid of you. But you are the president and you are responsible for every citizen in this country." The attackers were emboldened by the president's harsh words against the opposition, Akşener said.^[22][23][24] Upon investigation, it became clear that a nighttime security guard had fired his gun at burglars – only to hit the building by mistake with twostray bullets. President Erdoğan said in response to Akşener "The truth has come out, are you now going to apologize to me?"^[25]

Recent attacks on other parties have raised issues of political polarisation and security in the country.^[26] On 1 May, a group of unidentified individuals armed with guns and sticks assaultedHUDAPAR youth members inMersin. HUDAPAR was hosting an election campaign stand to help their electoral ally theAK Party. TheHDP denied links to the attack, and urged its supporters to refrain against provocations.^[27]

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's Alliance		Justice and Development Party	19,187,170	35.56	268	–27
			Nationalist Movement Party	5,421,800	10.05	50	+1
			New Welfare Party	1,510,745	2.80	5	New
			Great Unity Party	524,881	0.97	0	–1
		Total		26,935,107	49.91	323	–21
	Nation Alliance		Republican People's Party	13,675,902	25.34	169	+23
			Good Party	5,225,196	9.68	43	0
		Total		19,078,164	35.35	212	+23
	Labour and Freedom Alliance		Party of Greens and the Left Future	4,800,607	8.90	61	–4
			Workers' Party of Turkey	954,547	1.77	4	+2
		Total		5,759,958	10.67	65	–2
	Ancestral Alliance		Victory Party	1,211,917	2.25	0	New
			Justice Party	108,713	0.20	0	0
		Total		1,325,635	2.46	0	New
	Homeland Party			502,669	0.93	0	New
	Union of Socialist Forces		Left Party	76,801	0.14	0	0
			Communist Party of Turkey	62,826	0.12	0	0
			Communist Movement of Turkey	17,222	0.03	0	0
		Total		159,277	0.30	0	New
	Young Party			112,972	0.21	0	0
	Motherland Party			66,102	0.12	0	0
	Patriotic Party			52,720	0.10	0	0
	Nation Party			52,314	0.10	0	0
	Rights and Freedoms Party			42,509	0.08	0	0
	Justice Unity Party [tr]			41,207	0.08	0	New
	People's Liberation Party			31,831	0.06	0	0
	Power Union Party [tr]			26,359	0.05	0	New
	National Path Party			17,758	0.03	0	New
	Innovation Party			11,171	0.02	0	New
	Independents			226,831	0.42	0	0
Total				53,962,770	100.00	600	0
Valid votes				53,962,770	97.48
Invalid/blank votes				1,393,311	2.52
Total votes				55,356,081	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				64,145,504	87.05
Source:YSK

• 2023 elections in Asia
• 2023 elections in Europe
• 2023 elections in Turkey
• 2023 Turkish general election
• May 2023 in Turkey
• Elections in Turkey

• CS1 Turkish-language sources (tr)
• Articles with short description
• Short description with empty Wikidata description
• Use dmy dates from May 2023
• Use British English from May 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2023
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2022
• All articles containing potentially dated statements