Turkish AKP Faces Tight Race To Govern Alone: Partial Election Results

UPDATE 3:45 p.m. EDT: ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of assuming greater powers suffered a serious blow on Sunday when the ruling AK Party failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election, partial results showed.

With 94 percent of ballots counted, the AKP had taken 41 percent of the vote, according to broadcaster CNN Turk, a result which will leave it struggling to form a stable government for the first time since it came to power more than a decade ago.

"We expect a minority government and an early election," a senior AKP official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) ruled out a coalition with the AK Party on Sunday and said that the results of a parliamentary election had put an end to discussion about a presidential system.

"The discussion of executive presidency and dictatorship have come to an end inTurkey with these elections," Selahattin Demirtas told a news conference in Istanbul.

The lira currency weakened sharply against the dollar in thin out-of-hours dealing as investors, fearing further political uncertainty, positioned themselves for the start of trade on Monday.

UPDATE 2:15 p.m. EDT: ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The deputy chairman of Turkey's opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) said on Sunday it was too early for him to say whether it would consider forming a coalition government with the ruling AK Party.

Partial results from a parliamentary election on Sunday showed the AKP may be forced to form either a minority government or a coalition. The MHP has long been seen as its most likely potential partner.

"It would be wrong for me to make an assessment about a coalition, our party will assess that in the coming period. I think the AK Party will be making its own new evaluations after this outcome," MHP deputy leader Oktay Vural told Reuters.

UPDATE 1 p.m. EDT: ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said on Sunday initial election results suggested it would take 80 of 550 seats as it enters parliament as a party for the first time.

"Based on initial election results, we are on the verge of entering parliament and winning 80 seats," HDP lawmaker Sirri Sureyya Onder told a press conference inAnkara.

Original post:

ANKARA (Reuters) - Partial results from Turkey's parliamentary election on Sunday put the ruling AK Party on 43.6 percent of the vote, with just under two-thirds of ballots counted, a level which could leave it struggling to form a single-party government.

The results, broadcast by CNN Turk, put the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at 10.6 percent, just above the 10 percent threshold needed for it to enter parliament.

The results could still change significantly, with counting not yet completed in the country's largest cities.