In Pictures

Turkey’s AK party supporters celebrate surprise win

AK Party supporters celebrated victory at the party's headquarters in Istanbul until the early hours of the next day. [Huseyin Narin/Al Jazeera]

2 Nov 2015

Istanbul, Turkey – Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AK party) has swept a majority victory in a snap poll held on November 1, allowing it to lead the country alone after less than a half-year break.

Turkey voted in parliamentary elections for a second time in five months on Sunday amid instability from neighbouring Syria and renewed violence over the Kurdish conflict.

With nearly all of the votes counted, the party was leading with 49.4 percent of the votes, followed by the centre-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) with 25.4 percent, Nationalist Action Party (MHP) with 11.9 percent and the pro-Kurdish, left-wing Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) with 10.7 percent.

The AK party is predicted to claim 317 seats in the 550-seat parliament, giving it a majority to govern alone.

Going through a second general election in five months, and following the bomb attack in Ankara on October 10, many parties cancelled their campaigning.

However, after the results were clear, masses of AK party voters rushed onto the streets and to the party headquarters to celebrate the victory.

AK party supporters say the party changed the decades-long secularist military and bureaucracy-powered politics of Turkey. Many backing the party believe it freed the religiously conservative parts of the society from the pressure of the state.

Supporters also argue the party converted an ailing economy plagued by chronic inflation into a growing and stable one. Some AK party voters say they keep voting for the party because they prefer to not be governed by a coalition government. [Huseyin Narin/Al Jazeera]

The AK party led the country alone for 13 years until it lost a majority in parliament in the June 7 elections. [Huseyin Narin/Al Jazeera]

More than 54 million people were registered to vote at 175,000 polling stations across the country. [Huseyin Narin/Al Jazeera]

The participation rate in the elections was high, standing at 86.1 percent. [Huseyin Narin/Al Jazeera]

In his election campaign, AK party leader and prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, promised to re-establish stability. [Umut Uras/Al Jazeera]

During campaigning, the HDP stands were the most colourful ones, with Anatolian folk dancing frequently taking place. [Umut Uras/Al Jazeera]

The HDP has worked to attract young voters who sought an alternative to conventional politics in Turkey. [Umut Uras/Al Jazeera]

The election results were a disappointment for the main opposition, CHP, whose volunteers campaigned hard before the polls. [Umut Uras/Al Jazeera]

Unofficial results were announced only hours after the polls, and Turkey's election council is expected to announce official results in several days. [Huseyin Narin/Al Jazeera]

Elderly CHP voters take a photo of themselves in the Istanbul district of Kadikoy. [Huseyin Narin/Al Jazeera]

The nationalist MHP, which was criticised for not producing enough policies, lost half of its seats in parliament. [Huseyin Narin/Al Jazeera]

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