(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party lost its absolute parliamentary majority in legislative elections yesterday, dealing a severe blow to strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambition to expand his powers.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the biggest share of the vote in the elections, but well down on the almost 50 percent it recorded in the previous 2011 polls.
In a sensational result that shakes-up Turkey's political landscape, the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) easily surpassed the 10 percent barrier needed to send MPs to parliament.
Under Turkey's proportional representation system, this means the AKP will need to form a coalition for the first time since it first came to power in 2002.
The AKP secured 41 percent of the vote, followed by the Republican People's Party on 25 percent, the Nationalist Movement Party on 16.5 and the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) fourth on 12.5 percent, said official results based on a 98 percent vote count.
Turnout was 86 percent. According to the official seat projection, the AKP will have 259 seats in the 550-seat parliament, the CHP 131, the MHP 82 and the HDP 78.
The results wreck Erdogan's dream of agreeing a new constitution to switch Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system that he had made a fundamental issue in the campaign.
The result was a triumph for the HDP. It was also a personal victory for the party's charismatic leader Selahattin Demirtas. "We, as the oppressed people of Turkey who want justice, peace and freedom, have achieved a tremendous victory today," he said.
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