Turkish 2015 parliamentary election calendar starts Tuesday

ANKARA

The election calendar of the 2015 Turkish parliamentary elections officially starts Tuesday when Turkey’s Supreme Election Board will declare the overseas embassies and consulates where Turkish nationals living abroad can cast their votes.

Turkey’s Supreme Election Board said that the election calendar will start on March 10 and end on June 7.

According to the calendar, parties that will participate in the elections must give the Supreme Election Board their lists of MP nominees by April 7. The Supreme Election Board will announce the list of MP nominees on April 24.

Turkish nationals living abroad will cast their votes between May 8 and May 31.

The election campaign will start on May 28 and end on June 6.

The election in Turkey will start on June 7, at 08:00 a.m. (0600GMT) and finish at 17:00 p.m. (1500GMT).

Thirty-one parties will participate in the parliamentary elections, including the ruling Justice and Development Party, the opposition Republican People’s Party, Nationalist Movement Party and Peoples’ Democratic Party.

The latest population census published by the Turkish Statistical Institute on Dec. 31, 2014, says Turkey has a population of 77,695,904. Turkey will be divided into 85 electoral districts in 81 provinces with a total of 550 MPs.

Provinces that have less than 18 MPs will be in one electoral district, provinces with 19 to 35 MPs will be divided into two electoral districts and provinces with more than 36 MPs will be divided into three electoral districts.