ANKARA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has elected Prime Minister Binali Yildirim as its parliamentary group chairman on Wednesday.
Yildirim has vacated his party leader position to President Erdogan on AKP's extraordinary congress last Sunday, after changes approved in constitutional referendum on April 16, which allows Turkish president to retain affiliation with a political party.
However, as the head of party, Erdogan cannot serve as AKP's parliamentary group leader, since he is not a lawmaker of current Turkish parliament.
The AKP therefore had to change its party regulation to designate an "acting leader" at the congress.
Under the new party regulation passed on Wednesday, Yildirim can serve as AKP's parliamentary group chairman until 2019 election, leading the AKP lawmakers in the legislative branch.
