Turkey’s ruling AKP claims third term

Erdogan re-elected prime minister, but his party falls short of majority large enough to rewrite country’s constitution.

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Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has been elected for a third term, with the results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections suggesting that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won more than half of the votes cast.

But the AKP looked to have fallen short of its target of 330 seats, which would have allowed it to press ahead with its plans to rewrite the country’s constitution.

Based on results from 98.9 per cent of the vote, Erdogan’s socially conservative party had won 50.1 per cent, with the main opposition Republican People’s Party on 25.8 per cent, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on 13 per cent, according to Turkish media.

Independent candidates, representing the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in the Kurdish-majority southeast, polled 5.8 per cent of votes, Turkish media said.

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Under Turkey’s electoral system, a party must gain at least 10 per cent of the national vote to win seats in the National Assembly.

Projections by Turkish media suggest the AKP will get 326 seats in the new parliament, the CHP 135, the MHP 54, while independents will get 35.

Erdogan hopes to rewrite the country’s constitution after the elections, and had been targeting a two-thirds majority of 367 seats would have allowed his party to do so unilaterally, without the support of other parties.

Erdogan says a new constitution, replacing one introduced under martial law in 1982, is needed to make Turkey more democratic and to enhance individual freedoms.

But opponents said the AKP would write the constitution to consolidate its grip on power, and said Erdogan wanted to introduce a system with more executive powers for the president – a role they accused him of coveting.

Main strengths

Turkey’s booming economy during the AKP’s decade-long stewardship, as well as Turkey’s heightened international profile, were seen as Erdogan’s main strengths going into Sunday’s vote.

Celebrating crowds waving Turkish and AKP flags gathered outside the party’s headquarters in Ankara, the Turkish capital, where Erdogan was expected to address supporters later on Sunday.

Crowds also gathered in Istanbul’s main Taksim Square to watch the speech on big screens, Al Jazeera’s Ayse Alibeyoglu reported.

Earlier in the day, crowds burst into cheers and applause as Erdogan arrived to vote in a school in Uskudar, an AKP stronghold in the Asian part of Istanbul.

“Turkey is proud of you,” the crowd chanted as Erdogan shook hands with supporters.

“I’ve been informed that voting is taking place in a quiet atmosphere across the country … with a very high turnout,” he said.

“Everybody should respect the outcome.”

‘End of long marathon’

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the CHP, voted in the capital, Ankara.

“We have come to the end of a long marathon,” he said. “Today is the time for a decision by the people. We will respect their decision. There is a good mood. There is a democracy feast.”

The CHP, a secularist centre-left party, had built its election campaign on pledges of democratic reform, arguing that the AKP was turning Turkey into a “police state.”

Sex tapes forced 10 leading members of the MHP to quit the election race, prompting speculation over whether the party could slip under the 10 per cent threshold.

Voters cast their ballots in transparent plastic boxes, rather than traditional wooden boxes, for the first time – a measure introduced to prevent allegations of fraud.

Istanbul will be represented by 85 deputies in the new parliament, while Ankara gets 31 seats. Many of Turkey’s less populated provinces will be represented by a single deputy.

Seats are awarded on the basis of proportional representation, with each party gaining a number of seats in each district based on its share of the local vote.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies