Preliminary results in Turkey show blow for Erdogan

Preliminary vote counting in Turkey’s parliamentary election suggest that voters have rejected the ruling party’s bid to remake the constitution.

With about two-thirds of the vote counted, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, the AKP, was well ahead of other parties with just under 44 percent. But the projections had it hovering around the bare minimum to retain a simple majority in parliament.

In a blow to the ruling party’s chances, the main Kurdish party was running slightly above the 10-percent minimum threshold for representation.

AKP received around 49 percent in general elections in 2011. If the current trend holds, it would be first time that the party is faced with falling short of a majority to rule alone since it swept into power in 2002.

— AP