Erdogan's party wins in parliamentary election
Turkey's ruling party Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a sweeping victory in Sunday's poll.
The party won about 50% of the vote, securing about 327 of the 550 seats in parliament.
According to preliminary results published by Anadolu News Agency, secular Republican People's Party (CHP) won about 26% of the vote with 135 seats - 23 more than last time, and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) with 13% had 54 seats, down 17.
Independent candidates fielded by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) also did well in the south-east, winning 5.8% of the vote and 35 seats.
About 15 political parties, nominating 7,500 candidates, and 203 independent candidates participated in the Sunday poll.
A total of 52 million people were eligible to vote, out of a population of 75 million.
Note that exit polls are forbidden in Turkey; hence the first results were available after 9:00 p.m. local time.
Erdogan's party has been in power since November 2002. At the previous elections held in June 2007, it gained 46,5 percent of the votes and took 334 seats in parliament, forming a single-party government
After publishing the first results, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised before his supporters to build consensus with opposition parties and to adopt a new constitution.
"Our nation assigned us to draft the new constitution. They gave us a message to build the new constitution through consensus and negotiation," he said. "We will discuss the new constitution with opposition parties, civil society groups and academics. We will seek the broadest consensus," Erdogan said from the balcony of the AKP headquarters, CNN TÜRK reports.
