Turkey’s AKP party loses majority in blow for Erdogan

Istanbul: Turkey´s ruling party lost its absolute parliamentary majority in legislative elections on Sunday, dealing a severe blow to strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan´s ambition to expand his powers.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the biggest share of the vote in the elections, but well down on the almost 50 percent it recorded in the previous 2011 polls.

In a sensational result that shakes-up Turkey´s political landscape, the pro-Kurdish People´s Democratic Party (HDP) easily surpassed the 10 percent barrier needed to send MPs to parliament.

Under Turkey´s proportional representation system, this means the AKP will need to form a coalition for the first time since it first came to power in 2002.

The AKP secured 41 percent of the vote, followed by the Republican People´s Party (CHP) on 25 percent, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on 16.5 and the pro-Kurdish People´s Democratic Party (HDP) fourth on 12.5 percent, said official results based on a 98 percent vote count.

Turnout was 86 percent.

According to the official seat projection, the AKP will have 259 seats in the 550-seat parliament, the CHP 131, the MHP 82 and the HDP 78.

The AKP has dominated Turkish politics since it first came to power in 2002 but has suffered from a dip in economic growth and controversy over Erdogan´s perceived authoritarian tendencies.

The results wreck Erdogan´s dream of agreeing a new constitution to switch Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system that he had made a fundamental issue in the campaign.

Such a change would have required a two-thirds majority in the parliament.

"Turkish voters have said clearly that they do not approve of the move to a presidential system," analyst Seyfettin Gursel of Bahcesehir University said on CNN-Turk television.

Erdogan -- premier from 2003-2014 before becoming president -- wanted to be enshrined as Turkey´s most powerful figure and strengthen the office of the presidency which was largely ceremonial until his arrival.

Opponents, however, feared it could mark the start of one-man rule, with Erdogan likely to seek another presidential mandate to stay in power until 2024. (AFP)