Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become the most successful prime minister in the history of Turkey's multiparty system after a landslide victory at the country's general election.
His centre-right Justice and Development party (AKP), in power since 2002, won 49.9% of all votes, giving it 325 seats in parliament. The result falls short of the two-thirds majority needed to rewrite Turkey's 1982 military constitution without having to consult parliament.
The Republican People's party (CHP), came second with 25.9%. The only other party to gain seats in parliament, the Nationalist Movement party (MHP), took 13%, seemingly unaffected by a sex tape scandal that caused the resignation of 10 senior party members.
Thirty-six independent candidates, most of whom are backed by the Kurdish BDP, were also voted in, among whom was Kurdish campaigner Leyla Zana from Diyarbakir. Turnout was 84.79%.
"Erdogan wants to implement a presidential system," Gencer Ozcan, professor for international relations at Bilgi University told the Guardian. "This is the main goal of a new constitution. This is the first time that the prime minister handpicked all AKP candidates, assuring absolute loyalty within his own party." But the election result requires wider parliamentary consensus on a new constitution.
This comes as good news to government critics who, concerned about Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian stance, accused him of wanting to "Putinise" the country in an effort to remain in charge beyond 2015, when he would be barred from serving as prime minister again.
Speaking at a victory rally in the capital, Ankara, Erdogan adopted a conciliatory tone: "Today workers, pensioners, farmers have won. People in the villages have won. Today 74 million people have won. Today the western world, Tripoli, Gaza have won. The Middle East, the Balkans, Europe have won. Peace, justice and stability have won.
Interest in the election was fervent; 81% of eligible voters cast ballots. With all of the votes counted, results showed the AKP with just over 50% of the vote and 326 seats in the 550-seat chamber. Its main rival, the center-left Republican People's Party, or CHP, won only 25% of the vote, good for 135 seats and better than its 2007 showing but low enough to prompt a leadership change within the organization, analysts say.
The right-wing Nationalist Movement Party appeared to have broken through the 10% hurdle required to gain a block of seats in parliament, with about 13% of the vote and 53 seats, despite a series of sex scandals. Independent candidates mostly representing the country's Kurdish minority appeared set to win about 36 seats.
In addition to a solid core of pious Turks who voted for the AKP because they identify with its conservative values, voters interviewed in different parts of Istanbul expressed concern about the economy and the issue of resolving the decades-old conflict with ethnic Kurds, who account for a fifth of Turkey's 75 million people. Constitutional changes championed by the AKP and others would expand the definition of citizenship to include Kurds and other ethnic and religious minorities.
"I am Turkish, but I think the most important issue standing in the way of Turkey's success is the Kurdish issue," said Mustafa Ozturk, a 58-year-old printer in central Istanbul.
Legislative Majority
The main opposition Republican People’s Party won 26 percent of the vote and the Nationalist Action Party 13 percent. The election outcome gives Erdogan’s party more than half of seats at the assembly in Ankara, though less than the two-fifths majority that would enable it to put the draft constitution to a nationwide referendum without the support of opposition legislators.
The “outcome of elections where AKP continues in power but needs to co-operate with opposition is the most market-friendly outcome,” Ari Metso, managing director at Taaleritehdas Asset Management in Helsinki, who helps managing about 2 billion euros, said in e-mailed comments.
Erdogan’s plan for a new constitution has been a central campaign issue. Some investors have been concerned a landslide victory would revive political tensions with opposition parties, who warned that Erdogan would push through constitutional changes without public consensus. His party is rooted in a banned Islamic movement. Erdogan denies charges he’s trying to change Turkey’s secular form of government.
Those voting against the AKP said they were worried that Erdogan's ambitions had turned into hubris, that he had created a cult of personality that threatened the very democracy his party had invigorated when it came to power early in the last decade. Erdogan says he plans to transform Turkey's political system from a European parliamentary model into an American-style presidential system with a strong executive branch.
"If he does what he really wants to do, it will be scary," said Nilgun Celikbas, a 60-year-old interior designer in the swanky Bebek district of Istanbul who voted against Erdogan. "Right now, we have a picture of prosperity. But in the future, I think he will be dangerous."
Tags:Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu , Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , CHP , MHP , Turkish general election, 2011 ,Elections in Turkey ,Turkish ruling party elections:Aim 3
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