Turkey's Ruling Party Wins Elections
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party won parliamentary elections yesterday, taking at least 331 of 550 seats despite warnings from the secular opposition that the government was a threat to secular traditions. The state-run Anatolia news agency said the ruling Justice and Development Party had won with 85% of the votes counted. Two secular parties, the Republican People's Party and the Nationalist Action Party, won 124 seats and 76 seats respectively, Anatolia said. Independents won 19 seats.
Murad Sezer / AP
Prime Minister Erdogan and his wife, Emine, at a polling station after they cast their votes in Istanbul yesterday.
Ruling party supporters gathered in front of their Istanbul branch office, clapping, dancing, and waving flags depicting the party symbol, a light bulb. In Ankara, the capital, a jubilant crowd of several hundred whooped as they watched election results on a big television screen erected outside party headquarters.
One of Parliament's first jobs will be to elect a president. The post is largely ceremonial, but the incumbent has the power to veto legislative bills and government appointments.
In May, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul abandoned his presidential bid after opponents said his election would remove the last obstacle to an Islamic takeover of government.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters flooded the streets and the military — instigator of past coups — threatened to intervene to safeguard secularism.
Yesterday, many people cut short vacations to head home to cast their ballots, and lines at some polling stations were long, with people voting early to avoid the summer heat.
In Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, traffic jammed some main roads and police officers stood guard outside the gates of schools serving as polling stations.
