Nominations pour in for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Türkiye, which will be held together with the presidential elections on May 14. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) started accepting preliminary applications for candidacies, while the party’s executive board and the president will ultimately get the final list.
The Sabah newspaper reported that the party is considering nominating several ministers for seats in Parliament. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan formed a large technocrat government earlier, appointing several ministers who do not hold parliamentary seats as was the tradition in the past in Turkish politics. In upcoming elections, however, the party may also revert to the nomination of ministers for parliamentary seats from large constituencies.
Erdoğan met his party’s acting parliamentary group chairs on Wednesday to discuss election preparations. Erdoğan favors nominating ministers, including Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, for the parliamentary elections. Both will be selected from provinces rocked by earthquakes on Feb. 6 in southeastern Türkiye. Akar’s chief of staff, Remzi Albasan, also resigned on Thursday to apply for candidacy in the parliamentary elections for the AK Party.
Hulusi Akar was Chief of General Staff when he was appointed Minister of National Defense in 2018 after Türkiye switched to the executive presidency system. He was the first minister in decades with a military background and a rare name who did not hold any parliamentary posts in the past. Akar, like Soylu, is among the Cabinet ministers assigned to supervise search, rescue and relief works following the Feb. 6 earthquakes. Süleyman Soylu, a veteran politician, served three terms between 2015 and 2018 as a lawmaker from the AK Party.
The AK Party also strives to expand its People’s Alliance for elections, including Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Great Unity Party (BBP). In addition, talks are underway with the Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) and New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi).
The party will likely not nominate a majority of current lawmakers again, while the party’s veterans who were not selected in the past elections may make a comeback. This is because the party has a three-successive term limit for nominations. Still, Ali Ihsan Yavuz, the party’s top official in charge of electoral affairs, has recently stated that they would accept applications from three-term lawmakers in this election, though there may be exceptions. Several prominent names, including Yavuz himself, as well as former Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan, and AK Party Deputy Chair Mehmet Özhaseki, are among the names who served three terms.