JINHA

NEWS CENTER – With 97 women preparing to enter Turkey's new Parliament, the June 7th elections have raised the percentage of women in Parliament from 14.3% to 17.6%.

A significant portion of the 23% rise in women's representation is due to the victory of the HDP, which will be sending 32 women to Parliament—around 40% of its 82-MP slate. The HDP had run a list that was 48% women.

The HDP is now the party with the highest representation of women in the Parliament, compared to the 16% women CHP, the 15.5% woman AKP and the 5% woman MHP. Nearly 21% of the woman MPs in the new Parliament wear headscarves (once illegal in Turkey). The majority of them (17) come from the AKP, with three from the HDP.

While this will be the first time in history that women have achieved this level of representation in the Parliament, 37 of Turkey's 81 provinces will go unrepresented by a single woman. Additionally, all four parties saw a fall in the rate of women entering Parliament versus the rate of women on their party lists.

(ekip/fk/cm)