AK Party deputy Ismet Yilmaz elected as Turkey's new parliamentary speaker

Justice and Development (AK) Party deputy Ismet Yilmaz was elected Turkey’s new parliamentary speaker on Wednesday.

Yilmaz, a defence minister in the previous AK Party government, received 258 votes in the fourth and final round of two-days’ voting among the Grand National Assembly’s 550 lawmakers.

Three deputies did not vote in the last round and 29 cast blank ballots. A further 78 were declared invalid leaving Deniz Baykal of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) to take 182 votes.

Two other candidates – Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – were knocked out in the third round when none of the candidates secured a simple majority.

Baykal who has acted as temporary speaker since the June 7 election, congratulated Yilmaz, 53, and wished him success as Turkey’s 26th parliamentary speaker.

Yilmaz, who represents Sivas province in eastern Turkey, has served two previous terms as a deputy. He was appointed defence minister in July 2011 by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.