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Islamic-based
AK Wins Absolute Majority in Turkish Election
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Jubilant Turks sang outside AK HQ in Ankara, waving white flags bearing the party symbol
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ANKARA,
November 4 (IslamOnline & New Agencies) - The Justice and
Development Party (AK) – described as a secular party with Islamic
roots – won Sunday, November 3, an overwhelming general election
victory, sweeping aside the three-party coalition of outgoing prime
minister Bulent Ecevit.
State-run
television said the party had won 34.2 percent of the popular vote,
giving them an overwhelming majority of 362 seats in the 550-member
parliament, with 99 percent of all ballots counted, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported. The center-left Republican People's Party had 19
percent.
It
is the first time in the 79-year-old history of the Turkish republic
that a party with Islamic roots has secured a majority in parliament.
It
is also the first time in 15 years that any party has been in a position
to govern alone - largely due to voter fury over a devastated economy,
according to Turkish Daily News.
Turnout
was put at 85 percent of the 41.4 million registered electors in Turkey.
AK
supporters took to the streets as the poll results became clear.
Dozens
of people sang and danced outside the party headquarters in Ankara,
waving white flags bearing the party symbol of an electric light bulb,
said AFP.
"All
the parties who have governed Turkey up till now have exploited
us," said jubilant bank manager Cengiz Akgun, 49. "I have full
confidence in [AK leader Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and his party."
The
charismatic Erdogan himself was mobbed by party faithful as he flew in
to the capital from Istanbul, where he once served as mayor, said AFP.
At
the huge celebration at party headquarters, Erdogan said: "We will
not spend our time dizzy with victory. We will build a Turkey where
common sense prevails," the Turkish Daily News reported.
He
told reporters that the fight "against corruption and poverty"
would be the main objective for the government his party would form.
AK’s
confirmed popularity reflects a growing frustration among the masses
with the fractured secular mainstream parties, which produced weak
governments over the years and failed to resolve economic problems,
according to Turkish observers.
In
Sunday’s polls, the former three-party coalition, led by outgoing
prime minister Bulent Ecevit, was wiped off the political map, not
winning a single parliamentary seat between them, according to AFP.
The
ailing Ecevit conceded defeat as the unofficial returns showed his
Democratic Left Party (DSP) and its two coalition partners were set to
lose all their seats, having failed to secure the 10 percent of votes
required to enter parliament.
The
DSP garnered only 1.2 percent of the vote, a humiliating end to the
77-year-old Ecevit's four-decade political career.
The
AK, established only last year from the ashes of the banned Islamic
Welfare Party of former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, benefited from
a strong protest vote prompted by a severe economic crisis which has
left about a million jobless.
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Erdogan said the fight "against corruption and poverty" would be the main objective for the government his party would form
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The
only other party to exceed the 10-percent national threshold was the
staunchly secular Republican People's Party (CHP), Turkey's oldest
political grouping, set up by the country's founding father, Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk. The CHP won 19.5 percent of the vote and 179
parliamentary seats, according to the unofficial results.
Nine
independent candidates also won seats at Sunday's polls, state-run
television reported, but 16 of the 18 parties which stood came away with
nothing.
The
elections were closely watched by Turkey's NATO allies and the European
Union, amid concern about secularism in Turkey where the powerful and
strictly secular army forced the first Islamic-led government from power
just five years ago.
An
Islamic-oriented government could deal a blow to Turkey's bid for E.U.
membership.
It
could also cause concern in Washington at a time when the United States
may look to Ankara for support in a possible war against neighboring
12-year-sanction-hit Iraq.
The
AK indeed announced its opposition to any U.S. military action against
Baghdad.
"We
don't want there to be a war in Iraq," AFP quoted party deputy
president Abdullah Gul as saying.
Turkey
is the only mainly Muslim nation within NATO.
But
the AK quickly moved to soothe worries it would overturn Turkey's
pro-Western stance, denying any plans to "challenge the
world," said Turkish Daily News.
Confirming
his party would not deviate from Turkey's traditionally pro-Western
path, Erdogan, 48, told NTV news channel: "The first thing we will
do will be to accelerate the E.U. [membership] process."
The
charismatic Erdogan was barred from standing in the election due to a
1998 conviction for sedition after reciting a poem with Islamic
undertones at a political rally, and cannot now be named prime minister.
It remains unclear who the AK will nominate as its candidate to head the
government.
A
large parliamentary majority will not necessarily guarantee political
stability.
Lurking
not far in the background is the powerful armed forces, strong
proponents of secular Turkey.
Military
coups have unseated four governments since 1960, and the military led a
harsh secular campaign against the country's first Islamic prime
minister Necmettin Erbakan in 1997 and forced him to resign.
The
election was brought forward from April 2004 because of political
instability triggered by Ecevit's ill health and rifts in his coalition
government over controversial reforms needed for Turkey's struggling
E.U. bid.
Ordinary
Turks are hoping for a stable government that will rescue the country
from its worst recession in years, while financial markets are hoping
for an administration that will remain committed to a strict IMF-backed
economic program.
The
electoral commission could take up to a week to officially confirm the
results of Sunday's voting.
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