(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) More than 53.7 million Turkish eligible voters headed to polling stations on Sunday to take part in the nation's 25th general parliamentary election to elect 550 MPs for the Grand National Assembly for a period of four years.
Anadolu News Agency reported that polling stations opened their doors since 8 am local time and will close at 5 pm.
More than a million Turkish voters out of 2.8 million living abroad participated in the elections that started since May 8 till May 31, while voting at Turkish borders crossings and airports continues till 5 am of the polling day.
The 550 parliament seats are distributed by 88 for Istanbul, Ankara (32), Izmir (26), Bursa (18), Konya, Adana and Antalya (14), while 12 seats are for Gaziantep and Sanliurfa, and 11 in Diyarbakir, Koja-ali and Mersin, besides 10 seats for Hatay, and the remaining towns have 2 to 9 seats according to population density.
A total of 20 political parties are competing in the elections, including four
major parties, namely: the ruling Justice and Development Party, Republican's People Party, Nationalist Movement Party, People's Democratic Party of Kurdish majority, besides 165 independent candidates.
The party which will win 263 seats will be authorized to form a government, while the party winning 330 seats can put a referendum of constitutional amendments, whereas the party to win 367 seats can amend the constitution without passing a referendum.
The voting percentage is believed to witness a rise this year after the 2011 elections stood at 84 percent.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.