Erdogan’s AKP regains majority in stunning election comeback

Ankara: Turkey´s long-dominant Justice and Development Party (AKP) scored a stunning electoral comeback on Sunday, regaining its parliamentary majority in a poll seen as pivotal for the future of the troubled country.

The party founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won 49.4 percent of the vote to secure 316 seats in the 550-member parliament with nearly all votes counted, easily enough to form a government on its own.

The result is a huge personal victory for 61-year-old Erdogan, Turkey´s divisive strongman who may now be able to secure enough support for his controversial ambitions to expand his role into a powerful US-style executive presidency.

"Our people clearly showed in the November 1 elections that they prefer action and development to controversy," he said in a statement giving his first reaction to the election result, adding that voters had backed "unity and integrity".

The outcome of the vote was a shock to many, as opinion polls had predicted a replay of the June election when the AKP won only 40 percent and lost its majority for the first time in 13 years.

Then, the pro-Kurdish People´s Democratic Party (HDP) won seats in Turkey´s parliament for the first time, denying Erdogan´s party a majority, but renewed violence with Kurdish militants and a surge in bloody militant attacks have boosted support for the government.

"Today is a day of victory," a beaming Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a crowd of jubilant supporters in his hometown, insisting that "today there are no losers but winners".

Speaking later to thousands of people who waited for hours in the cold to hear him speak from the balcony of the AKP headquarters in the capital, he vowed to protect the human rights of all of Turkey´s 78 million inhabitants.

"You saw the dirty games played in our country, and you have changed the game," Davutoglu said.