People's Alliance garners majority of seats in Turkish parliament

By Anadolu Staff

ISTANBUL (AA) – 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.