Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) disclosed the list of their candidates for the May 14 elections. The list was presented to Supreme Election Council (YSK) on Friday, two days before the deadline for parties to submit their candidate lists.
The MHP is a stalwart of the People’s Alliance led by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and endorses the candidacy of incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, along with three other parties. But it fielded its own candidates in legislative votes in the past elections, though their number is small. It currently has 48 seats in the 600-seat Parliament.
The party’s list includes the same names currently serving in the Parliament, except five lawmakers, including Mustafa Hidayet Vahapoğlu, a lawmaker for Bursa province, Esin Kara, a lawmaker for Konya province, Baki Şimşek for Mersin, Metin Nurullah Sazak and Sefer Aycan, lawmakers for Eskişehir and Kahramanmaraş, respectively. The party’s leader Devlet Bahçeli was nominated from the MHP stronghold and Bahçeli’s hometown Osmaniye province. The party’s co-chairs, including Edip Semih Yalçın and Feti Yıldız, who presented the list to YSK on Friday, were nominated from Istanbul.
Among the new names nominated for Parliamentary seats was Özlem Balcı, an actress who shot to fame with a popular TV show on public broadcaster TRT, who is now nominated from the southwestern province of Muğla. Professor Ilyas Topsakal, a prominent academic specializing in Turkish history, was nominated from his hometown Samsun in northern Türkiye. The MHP’s Deputy Chairs Filiz Kılıç and Pelin Yılık were also nominated for the first time. Mehmet Sarı, mayor of Amasya province, was also among the new names nominated.
Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the YSK, Feti Yıldız said they had 90 female candidates among 600 candidates in their list for the upcoming elections and 195 candidates were between the ages of 26 and 40. He said they also had 16 candidates with disabilities on their list.
