Turkey’s AK party to fall shy of parliamentary majority

Unofficial results give the AK Party 46.7 percent of the vote. But the opposition’s showing means the AKP will have less seats in parliament. The secularist centre-left opposition, the CHP, will have an estimated 112 seats with up to 70 going to the right-wing Nationalist Action Party, the MHP. The results have been greeted with dismay by the opposition parties. One CHP supporter described the outcome as “a total disappointment”. He added: “I thought people had more sense, but this shows we’re not there yet. This is not good for Turkey.” The sentiments were echoed at the Nationalist Action Party headquarters.

The far-right party vastly improved on its performance five years ago and its presence in parliament, with pro-Kurdish politicians, will ensure there is more tension. Despite that, most papers and many people are now agreed that Erdogan can exploit parliament’s new make-up to press-on with free-market policies. It remains unclear how the staunchly secularist military will react to the AKP’s re-election.

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