AK Party sweeps to victory in the Turkish elections

AK Party sweeps to victory in the Turkish elections
By Euronews
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Turkey has a majority government after the country’s second parliamentary elections in five months. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was greeted by his

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Turkey has a majority government after the country’s second parliamentary elections in five months. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was greeted by his supporters in Ankara after his Justice and Development Party regained its overall majority.

As the evening unfolded and with just over half of votes counted the Justice and Development AK Party looked set to achieve the majority it needed.. The PM spoke of change ahead.

“The actual system is not responding to the needs of Turkey. It is obvious that this shirt is too tight for this country. Let’s distance ourselves from a constitution and work together for a civil and freedom constitution,” he told supporters.

The percentage count translates into 316 seats in the 550 seat parliament for the AK Party. It needed at least 276 to guarantee an overall majority.The big losers were the nationalist MHP Party which saw the number of seats cut by almost a half. Analysts suggested the AKP gained many of those votes. The pro-Kurdish HDP also lost seats cut by almost 20.

Euronews reporter Borya Bayraktar in Ankara said: “Unlike the night five months ago when the AK Party one party rule, this time there is great joy here at the AK Party’s headquarters. Thousands gathered here and celebrated the beginning of a fourth term for the AKP.

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