Turkish election: AKP returns to power with outright majority

Source: The Guardian

Turkey’s strongman president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, tightened his grip on power decisively on Sunday as his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) swept back to single-party government with a convincing win in national elections.

The high-stakes vote, Turkey’s second in five months, took place in a climate of mounting tension and violence following an inconclusive June poll in which the conservative, Islamic-leaning AKP failed to secure an outright majority for the first time since coming to power in 2002.

With almost 90% of the votes counted, the party was on 50.3%, according to state broadcaster TRT. That would give it about 325 seats in the 550-seat parliament, comfortably ahead of its three main rival parties and easily enough to form a government on its own.

The prime minister and AKP leader, Ahmet Davutoğlu tweeted simply: “Elhamdulillah”, or “Thanks be to God”.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/01/turkish-election-akp-set-for-majority-with-90-of-vote-counted