Turkish TV Reports Project Decisive Win for Ruling Party
By VOA News
22 July 2007
Unofficial projections by a private Turkish broadcaster show Turkey’s Islamist-rooted ruling party headed for a decisive win in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
CNN-Turk television shows the ruling Justice and Development party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan winning nearly 48 percent of the vote, with about 70 percent of the votes counted. Official results are expected late Sunday local time.
The early results show two secularist parties - the leftist CHP party and the ultranationalist MHP party - passing the 10 percent threshold necessary to enter parliament. The leftists have about 20 percent of the vote and the ultra-nationalists have 14.5 percent.
Secularists - including influential military leaders - have accused the ruling party of seeking to undermine Turkey’s strict separation of church and state. Prime Minister Erdogan denies those allegations.
The prime minister has said he will quit politics if his party does not win enough seats to form a government on its own.
Mr. Erdogan called the polls four months early, after secularists stopped him from appointing fellow conservative and ex-Islamist Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as president.
About 43 million Turks are eligible to take part in today’s mandatory vote. Fourteen political parties and a large slate of independent candidates appeared on election ballots.