ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's parliament has elected the ruling party's candidate as its new speaker with the tacit support of a right-wing nationalist party, a move that represents a serious gesture to the ruling party as Turkey heads toward coalition-building talks.
Ismet Yilmaz — the ruling party's nominee and the defense minister in the outgoing government — won 258 votes Wednesday, beating the left-wing party's candidate in a face-off Wednesday. The nationalist party cast invalid votes, implicitly helping Yilmaz take the post to lead Turkey's 550-seat parliament.
The ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party came first in Turkey's June 7 elections, taking 258 seats but losing its majority, forcing it to seek a coalition partnership. The election of the speaker was being watched for clues on possible coalition alliances.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment