At stake in this election:      

• The 550 seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN*
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Ahmet DAVUTOGLU
• Assembly: Turkey has a unicameral Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi) with 550 seats.

* Candidates must be members of the Grand National Assembly supported by 20 of its members, or nominees by political parties that have attained more than 10 percent of votes in the last legislative election. Candidates must be 40 years of age and have completed higher education.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
• In the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi) 550 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

*** There are 79 MMD corresponding to the provinces. Each party must clear a national threshold of 10 percent and at least one D'Hondt quotient in the district from which it is elected. Additionally, a candidate may be seated only if his party is organized in one-third of districts within each of half of the provinces, and has nominated two candidates for each seat in at least half of provinces.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Justice and Development Party / Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP)
  • Leader: Ahmet DAVUTOGLU
  • Seats won in last election: 327
• Party: Republican People's Party / Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP)
  • Leader: Kemal KILICDAROGLU
  • Seats won in last election: 135
• Party: Nationalist Movement Party / Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (MHP)
  • Leader: Devlet BAHCELI
  • Seats won in last election: 53
• Party: Peoples' Democratic Party / Halkların Demokratik Partisi (HDP)
  • Leader: Selahattin DEMIRTAS
  • Seats won in last election: 0

Last election:

• The last election for the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was held on 12 June 2011.  There were 52,807,777 registered voters for the election.  The Justice and Development Party won 327 seats (of 550) or 49.83% of the vote, the Republican People’s Party won 135 seats (25.98% of the vote), the Nationalist Movement Party won 53 seats (13.01% of the vote), and Independents won 35 seats (6.57% of the vote). 

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 81,619,392 (2014 est.)[1]
• Registered Voters: 56,608,817[2]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 40,512,569 (2014 est.)[3]
• Is Turkey a signatory to CEDAW: No
• Has Turkey ratified CEDAW: Yes (20 December 1985)[4]
• Gender Quota: No legislated quotas[5]
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators: 78 (14%) of 550 seats in the Grand National Assembly[6]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 69[7]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low[8]

Disability Data:

• Is Turkey a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
• Has Turkey ratified CRPD: Yes (28 September 2009)[9]