ISTANBUL: Turkey voted in parliamentary elections for a second time in five months amid instability spilling over from neighbouring Syria and renewed tensions over the 30-year-old Kurdish conflict.
More than 54 million people were registered to vote at 175,000 stations on Sunday. All polling stations closed by 5pm, local time.
The June 7 elections had seen the social conservative Justice and Development Party (AK party) lose its 13-year single party rule, but four political parties that made their way to the parliament failed to produce a coalition government, and snap elections were called.
In the June polls, the AK party secured 258 seats in the 550-seat house, losing many to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which achieved unprecedented success for a pro-Kurdish party by getting 80 seats.
Unofficial election results are expected on Sunday evening.
The main opposition, centre-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) and far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP), which respectively won 131 and 80 seats in the last elections, are the other main players in the polls. Parties need to secure 276 seats to govern the country alone.
