Turkey Presidential Elections

The first round of presidential elections in Turkey is scheduled to take place on August 10 and the second round on August 24th. Abdullah GUL was the last president elected by members of the parliament or Grand National Assembly of Turkey. As outlined in a 2007 constitutional amendment, this will be the first directly elected presidential contest in the history of Turkey. There are three candidates running for presidency and all three are men. 

Turkish women gained suffrage in the 1930s which is earlier than most European countries. In 1935 18 women entered the parliament. One of them was a village head  prior to entrance to parliament. The first female city mayor was in 1950. Turkey had a woman Prime Minister between 1993 and 1996. However, only 14.3%  (79 women) of the parliament elected in 2011 are women. (In 1975 the percentage was 10.9 and in 2006 it was 16.3.).

For more information on women's political participation in Turkey please click here

For more information on the upcoming elections in Turkey please click here