Turkish Parliament’s General Assembly voted for on a bill, which calls for a constitutional amendment to remove the lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution, for the second round on Friday and approved the bill with 376 votes.
The bill which was proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on April 12, had received enough votes in the first round of voting last Tuesday to move on to the second round.
348 deputies voted in favor and 155 deputies voted against the bill in the first round. The bill needed at least 330 votes in favor.
In the second round, 373 deputies voted in favor of the first article of the bill while 138 deputies voted against the bill. Also, 374 deputies voted in favor of the second article, while 136 deputies voted against it.
The bill received 376 votes in total, thereby passing into law without holding a referendum.
The constitutional amendment suggests lifting deputies’ immunity from prosecution, who currently face investigations and mainly targets politicians from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). If enacted the bill would affect a total of 138 lawmakers, 50 of them from HDP.
