People’s Alliance garners majority of seats in Turkish parliament

ISTANBUL

The People’s Alliance, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development (AK) Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), managed to secure a majority of seats in the Turkish parliament after Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

According to unofficial results, the AK Party garnered 35% of the votes, while the MHP gained over 10%, and the New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah), which joined the alliance recently, got nearly 3% of the votes.

The Great Union Party (BBP), another party to the alliance, got almost 1% of the votes. With over 26 million votes cast in favor of the People’s Alliance, Erdogan-led bloc collected over 49% of the votes in the parliamentary election, gaining 322 seats in the 600-seat parliament.

“Our country has completed another festival of democracy with the May 14 elections. Although the exact results are not clear yet, we are well ahead,” Erdogan said in a victory speech in the capital Ankara early Monday.

The main opposition Nation’s Alliance, on the other hand, gained 35% of all votes, getting 213 seats in the parliament, while another opposition bloc, the Labor and Freedom Alliance, got over 10.5% of votes to get 65 seats in parliament.

• AK Party
• CHP
• Nation Alliance
• People's Alliance
• President Recep Tayyip Erdogan