Turkey is to elect a new parliament on Sunday, and 14 parties will be contesting 550 parliament seats. Parties must win at least 10 percent of the national votes to earn seats in Parliament.
About 42.5 million Turks out of a total population of 74 million people have the right to vote in the general elections of the parliament, or Great National Assembly.
The following are basic information about the main political parties in the elections:
-- Justice and Development Party (AKP): Founded in 2001, it is a liberal party often described as having an "Islamist root."
AKP rejects the "Islamist" label and claims that it is a pro- Western mainstream party with a "conservative" social agenda but also a firm commitment to liberal market economy and European Union membership.
In 2002, AKP became the first party from the polls with 34.29 percent of votes, slimly higher than the required 33 percent to form a single-party government. Currently AKP has 352 parliamentary seats, with its chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan as prime minister.
-- Republican People's Party (CHP): Created in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who created the secular Turkish republic, the party is the oldest one in Turkey.
It is now led by Deniz Baykal. It has been a strong center-left party. During the last elections in 2002, CHP got 19.39 percent of the votes, and thus became the second and the main opposition party in the parliament. Currently the party has 149 parliamentary seats.
-- Nationalist Movement Party (MHP): As a right-wing party for its history of militancy, MHP was founded in 1969. During the last elections in 2002, the party got only 8.34 percent of the votes and couldn't go to the parliament.
It is now headed by Devlet Bahceli. The MHP accuses the government of being too soft on separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
-- Democrat Party (DP): This is a new party. Headed by Mehmet Agar, the party is described as "secular and center-right."
Source: Xinhua
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