Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party has scored a resounding third consecutive election victory, but he will need to seek consensus to push ahead with a planned new constitution.
Mr Erdogan, whose AK has transformed Turkey into one of the world's fastest-growing economies and ended a cycle of military coups, won some 50 per cent of the vote in yesterday's election.
The result boosted financial markets. The Turkish lira strengthened against the dollar, while bonds also gained as investors saw the result forcing the AK Party to compromise with other parties to replace the constitution, which was written almost 30 years ago during a period of military rule.
Though Mr Erdogan failed to win enough seats to call a referendum on a planned new constitution, the vote marked AK's biggest electoral tally since it first came to power in 2002. Preliminary results showed AK winning 49.9 per cent, or 326 seats, just below the 330 required for a plebiscite, and less than the 331 of the 550 seats it had in the last parliament.
Critics fear Mr Erdogan, who has a reputation for not being accommodating to dissent, might use the victory to cement power, limit freedoms and persecute opponents.
But in a victory speech before thousands of flag-waving supporters in the capital Ankara, he pledged "humility" and said he would work with rivals.
“People gave us a message to build the new constitution through consensus and negotiation. We will discuss the new constitution with opposition parties. This new constitution will meet peace and justice demands.”
Last night, a percussion bomb exploded in southeast Turkey, injuring 11 people celebrating election victories of Kurdish candidates, security and hospital officials said. The explosion occurred in the province of Sirnak, near the Iraqi border. Casualties were being treated at a nearby hospital.
European Union candidate Turkey and Mr Erdogan's party are often are cited as models for supporters of democracy living through the "Arab Spring" series of anti-authoritarian protests in parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
But opponents say Mr Erdogan, whose party evolved from banned Islamist movements, is imposing a conservative social agenda.
Since crushing old establishment parties on a wave of support from a rising middle class of religious Turks, Mr Erdogan has challenged the secularist military and judiciary with reforms meant to win Turkey membership in the European Union. He also has set the long-time Nato member and US ally on a more assertive foreign policy course, building closer relations with Middle East countries, including Iran.
The new leader of the secularist opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which garnered its best result in more than 30 years with 25.9 per cent of the vote, warned Mr Erdogan that he would be watching his movements closely.
"We wish all success to AKP, but they must remember there's a stronger main opposition party now," Kemal Kilicdaroglu said.
Besides the economy, Mr Erdogan's government also will need to tackle a separatist conflict in the mainly Kurdish southeast. A strong showing by the pro-Kurdish BDP in the Kurdish region played a role in denying the AK a bigger vote haul.
Analysts said Mr Erdogan will need to focus as well on reviving Turkey's faltering EU bid and on unrest in neighbouring Syria, which has sent thousands of refugees spilling over the border as Syrians flee an increasingly bloody crackdown on popular unrest.
Reuters