Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a
landslide victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections with 46.5
percent of the total votes.
AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also prime minister,
announced Sunday night that his party has won the parliamentary
election and will continue ruling the country.
Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan casts his vote during early parliamentary
elections at a voting center in a primary school in Istanbul July
22, 2007. Millions of Turks flocked to vote on Sunday in a
parliamentary election seen as crucial to the future direction of
this large Muslim but secular democracy straddling Europe and the
Middle East.
Addressing thousands of supporters of the AKP in
front of the party's headquarters in Ankara, Erdogan said, "our
union, democracy and republic have all gained strength at the
ballot box."
"The national will was reflected at the ballot box in a free and
transparent way," he said, adding that he felt quite pleased that
"the citizens have expressed their choice in a peaceful and
democratic atmosphere."
He reiterated that his party would continue to crack down on
terrorism.
The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) gained 20.9
percent of the votes, ranking it second, and the Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP) gained 14.3 percent, ranking third.
MHP Chairman Devlet Bahceli said, "The Turkish nation brought
AKP to power for a second time, we should respect our nation's
will," according to the semi-official Anatolian News Agency.
Bahceli said in a written statement, "Our nation assigned us as
the opposition. It is understood that in the 23rd parliament
important duties fall on MHP's lap. MHP will try to fulfill these
duties with a sense of responsibility."
In 2002 AKP became as the first party from the polls with 34.29
percent of the votes and formed a single-party government. CHP was
the opposition party in the parliament while the MHP was absent
with only 8.36 percent of votes.
These three parties, out of the 14 participating parties in the
election, passed the 10 percent threshold to enter the parliament.
Seats that have been allocated to the parties are: AKP, 343;
CHP,111; MHP, 71; independent candidates, 25.
During the counting process, Democrat Party leader Mehmet Agar
announced that he resigned as his party only got 5.7 percent of
votes, having no chance to enter the parliament.
Turkey's election laws require parties to earn at least 10
percent of votes in order to hold seats in the parliament.
The voting process for electing 550 parliament members has ended
across Turkey as of 5:00 PM (14:00 GMT).
Fourteen political parties and a total of 7,394 candidates,
including 699 independent candidates, ran for the elections.
The elections were scheduled to be held on Nov. 4 but were
brought forward almost four months because of the failure to elect
a new president after the CHP boycotted the presidential election
in late April and early May.
(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2007)
