Turkey's ruling AKP leads in polls, may lose parliament majority

ANKARA - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won the parliamentary election yet could lose its majority as it has garnered far less votes than it did four years ago, according to the preliminary poll results, said Turkish NTV news channel on Sunday.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) with his wife Sare waves to his supporters from the balcony of the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, June 7, 2015.  [Photo/Agencies]

With 90 percent of the votes counted, the AKP has won 41.48 percent of them, while the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) gained 25.28 percent, the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) 16.72 percent, and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) 11.97 percent.

"This nation's decision is correct," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in his first remarks in Konya province after the elections on Sunday.

It will be the AKP's fourth consecutive win in general elections since it came into power in 2002. In 2011 elections, the party won 49.83 percent of the cast ballots.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also ex-leader of AKP, aimed to win a two-thirds majority in the parliament so that he could switch the country from parliamentary system to a presidential one, yet the non-official election results so far suggest that he may have to scuttle his plans.

More than 53.7 million Turkish voters headed to the ballot boxes for a crucial parliamentary election, with 20 political parties running for 550 parliamentary seats.

In order to have enough power either to change the constitution or to go to referendum, the AKP must take at least 330 seats of the total 550.

In the last general elections in 2011, the AKP took 311 parliamentary seats.

Turkey is ruled by the parliamentary system since the formation of the republic in 1924. The role of the president is largely symbolic until Erdogan's presidential term started one year ago.

Tight security measures were taken on the polling day with more than 400,000 police officers and gendarmerie were on duty to ensure security, local media reported.