ANKARA
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party announced its upcoming parliamentary candidates Tuesday after submitting to the country’s top election authority a final list of MP hopefuls to run in the polls this summer.
On Monday, CHP's top decision-making body convened under the chairmanship of Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Ankara to decide on 188 candidates. Thirty-seven names were selected by Kilicdaroglu himself. The party had received nearly 26 percent of votes in the 2011 general elections.
Political parties in Turkey can submit 550 candidates and the CHP has already determined 362 of its candidates in 45 constituencies after holding primary elections.
CHP chairman Kilicdaroglu also attended the primary election as a candidate, running in Izmir, a western province in Turkey, and he received 85 percent of the vote. The party held primaries in at least 41 provinces to determine their nomination list.
Turkey's Supreme Election Board had decided April 4 that political parties in Turkey have to submit their candidates for at least 41 provincial constituencies by April 7 to be able to run in the upcoming general elections, which will be held on June 7.
According to the agreed list, the names of female candidates were situated in the top two or three places in Turkey’s four main provinces, including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Eskisehir.
Safak Pavey was named as CHP's Istanbul first-place candidate. Pavey is the first disabled women to be elected to the Turkish parliament.
A total of 103 female CHP candidates from across Turkey are running in the general elections.
Selian Ozuzun Dogan, a Turkish-Armenian lawyer, was also appointed as Istanbul's second-region first place candidate. Dogan is expected to represent the Armenian community for the party.
Approximately, 56 million Turkish citizens will vote in the country's 25th general elections to elect the 550 members of the parliament.
Some 54,812,423 people are registered to vote in Turkey while 1,103,258 people will be able to cast their votes outside the country.
According to the calendar, parties that wish to participate in the elections have to provide the Supreme Election Board with lists of MP candidates before 5 p.m. local time on April 7.
The Supreme Election Board will announce the list of MP candidates on April 24. The election campaign will start on May 28 and end on June 6.
