The deadline set by the Higher Electoral Council (YSK) for political parties to submit their lists of parliamentary election candidates passed on April 11th. Seventeen parties will compete in the election on June 12th. However, only two or three will manage to win enough votes to reach the high 10% national threshold for party representation in parliament. These will almost certainly be the three main parties in parliament: the religiously conservative ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP); and the two main opposition parties, the secularist/nationalist Republican People's Party (CHP) and the hard-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP).

The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) is fielding independent candidates to bypass the 10% barrier and will form a parliamentary group if they manage to obtain 20 seats, the minimum required, as they did in 2007. A controversial YSK decision on April 18th to ban 12 independent candidates, six of whom were backed by the BDP, for having a criminal record, has thrown the party's election plans into turmoil and will make that task of forming a political group in parliament after the election much more difficult. The decision has caused severe tension in the mainly Kurdish south-east of the country, fuelling distrust among Kurds regarding the Turkish state.

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Based on available information about the candidates on the party lists, it is expected that over 50% of members of parliament (MPs) will be new after the election; that their average age will be one of the lowest in Turkey's parliamentary history; and that the next parliament will contain more female members than previous parliaments (currently 9% of the total number of MPs are women).

The main parties adopted different approaches to the selection of their candidate lists. The AKP's selection process was heavily centralised, as is the tradition in Turkish politics, with the leader of the AKP and prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, closely involved. Of the AKP's 340 sitting MPs, 167 were left off the list of candidates either because they had gone against Mr Erdogan on key issues or votes in parliament, or because they were deemed unpopular in their electoral districts. Mr Erdogan appears to have favoured applicants who have not served in parliament before but have been active in the party organisation. The list contains few candidates considered close to the AKP's old Islamist roots or to Abdullah Gul, the party's deputy leader until he was elected to the presidency in 2007. Several former cabinet ministers such as Kursad Tuzmen, Hilmi Guler and Kemal Unakitan have also been excluded. On April 2nd Mr Erdogan stated that he expects the AKP to obtain 315-335 seats out of a total of 550 in parliament. This would give the party an outright majority, but insufficient votes to amend the constitution, although 330 seats would be enough to secure parliamentary approval for constitutional changes and put them to a referendum.

The process followed by the leader of the CHP, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has also resulted in major changes to the composition of the party's candidates list and points to a shift in its ideological orientation. The CHP held primary elections in 29 out of 81 provincial districts to select its candidates, reflecting the leadership's efforts to make the CHP a more representative and participatory party. Of the party's current 101 MPs, approximately two-thirds have not been reselected. The supporters of the party's old guard have been largely excluded, which has helped Mr Kilicdaroglu to consolidate his position as leader, although his survival will depend on whether he succeeds in increasing his party's share of the vote to at least 30%, from about 20% in the 2007 election. The former secretary-general, Onder Sav, who orchestrated Mr Kilicdaroglu's election as leader in May 2010 but subsequently sought to challenge him, is not a candidate. The former long-standing CHP chairman, Deniz Baykal, who was forced to resign in 2010, has been selected but appears to have few supporters in the party. The new secretary-general, Gursel Tekin, played a key role in the selection of candidates, many of whom have not been in the CHP for more than five years. However, the decision to put forward three detained suspects in the Ergenekon trial has drawn strong criticism from inside and outside the party. In the criminal trial they are accused of belonging to an illegal ultra-nationalist gang, Ergenekon, comprising leading civilians and retired military officers intent on creating instability to bring down the AKP government.

In contrast to the AKP and the CHP, the MHP's candidate list includes most of the MPs elected to the current parliament. The list also includes a retired general, Engin Alan, who is a suspect in another alleged coup case.