Erdogan and AKP party officials insist that voters opted for stability during increasingly uncertain times.
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It’s unclear how Turkish elections will factor into the country’s struggling industry.
In a statement posted on Facebook, the Brotherhood said the results of Turkey’s election Sunday sent a “positive message to all those who support revolution, freedom and democracy”.
But in characteristically pugnacious form, he also attacked the global media and its criticism of him. It was projected to get 317 seats in the 550-member parliament, restoring the party’s single-party majority that it had lost in a June election. “This should be respected by the whole world, but I have not seen such maturity”, he said in his party’s victory speech in his hometown of Konya. Only three women were elected for the nationalist MHP.
Daily Turkish newspapers had a say in how to report the elections’ results, as the independent mass-circulation Hurriyet and Milliyet focus on the scale of the ruling AKP’s win, while opposition papers accuse the authorities of scaring voters with the prospect of civil strife.
“In June, after AKP lost its majority, perhaps a few in the Turkish opposition and the European institutions were thinking this would be the beginning of the end (for Erdogan)”, said Kati Piri, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey.
With 60 more seats, the government would have been able to bring in those changes without a referendum.
It said on Monday that the campaign for Sunday’s vote was characterised by “unfairness” and “fear” after a surge in violence.
Erdogan’s supporters wave AKP flags as they celebrate in Istanbul after the first results in the country’s general election on November 1, 2015. “My wish is that a great hope for peace and calm emerges (from the vote)”. Turkey’s once booming economy has also slowed sharply, with the Turkish lira plummeting more than 25 per cent to new lows in recent months.
Critics warn that an emboldened Erdogan, who is seeking to expand his presidential powers, could become more autocratic and further polarize a country already deeply divided on political, sectarian and religious lines. Turkey shares is borders with Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Bulgaria, and Greece.
Figures published by the Reuters news agency showed a more significant decline, with just 77 female MPs elected.
The second parliamentary election in five months was called after the June vote failed to provide one party with an overall majority.
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Criticizing the electoral process, HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas said it was not a “fair election” because his party halted campaigning in the wake of the terrorist attacks that targeted his community.
