Turkey's new parliament prepares to elect its speaker

Having taken oaths last week, Turkey's newly elected deputies will gather on June 30 at a plenary session for checking the first item on their checklist: electing one member of Turkey's 25th term of parliament as its speaker for the next two years.

The first two rounds of voting are scheduled for June 30, with candidates requiring the support of at least 367members of parliament in the 550-seat assembly in the first two votes. In a third round of voting on July 1, a minimum of 276 votes is needed. In the fourth and final round, the candidate with the most votes will be elected speaker. 

All four political parties, which made their way to parliament through the June 7 election, have nominated their candidates, with the June 27 deadline to apply for the parliamentary speaker's position already passed.

Without losing any time, Justice and Development Party's (AKP) candidate, incumbent Defense Minister ?smet Y?lmaz, and Republican People's Party's (CHP) candidate Deniz Baykal, already began visiting party leaders as early as June 27 in order to gain support. 

Candidate visits to leaders of other parties will occupy agenda of the first day of this week as well. The Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) candidate, Ekmeleddin ?hsano?lu, and the Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) candidate, Dengir Mir Mehmet F?rat, will make courtesy visits to CHP leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu and make their case for holding the prestigious post.

Speaking to reporters over the weekend in Diyarbak?r, HDP's Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair ?dris Baluken said they were expecting the office of Prime Minister and AKP's leader Ahmet Davuto?lu to set an exact date in response to their request to visit Davuto?lu along with F?rat.

Baluken also noted that...