HDP co-leaders Selahattin Demirtaş (left) and Figen Yüksekdağ on Sunday after the results became clear
Turkey’s voters deprived the AK Party of its parliamentary majority last weekend in a landmark election that paves the way for a power-sharing deal.
The country’s first coalition this century is on the horizon after the poll, which left no party with enough seats to govern by itself.
Unofficial results showed the main victor was the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), a party that many feared would fall short of the 10 percent of votes needed to win seats in parliament.
The HDP ultimately took 13 percent of the vote and 80 seats; the AK Party, meanwhile, lost 53.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who cut a controversial figure during the campaign by endorsing the AK Party despite his politically neutral role, said on Monday that the nation’s opinion was “above everything else”.
He said in a short written statement: “I believe the results, which do not give the opportunity to any party to form a single party government, will be assessed healthily and realistically by every party.”
Meanwhile HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş hailed the outcome: “The debate about dictatorship is over. Turkey narrowly averted a disaster.”
BRITAIN SAYS ‘HDP’
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) held steady in parliament with 132 seats, while the Nationalist MHP improved its lot by equalling 80 seats.
The election was notable for being the first to allow overseas Turkish citizens to vote. The results showed expatriates in the UK staged a record turnout and overwhelmingly supported the HDP, which took nearly 60% of the vote.
COALITION WOES
Formal coalition bargaining is not expected to begin in Turkey until the authorities publish the official election results, which might not take place before the end of this week.
Some parties have already begun to declare their hand, however. The HDP has said it would not join any coalition with the governing AK Party, while the MHP has spurned both AK and the HDP.