Turkey’s Islamist AK Party Wins Third Term of Single-Party Rule: Time to Create a Liberal Secular State

The mildly Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP) of Recep Tayyip Erdogan won its third absolute victory in parliamentary elections, enabling it to press ahead, should it wish, on a host of issues including reviving the moribund EU accession negotiations and drafting a new constitution.

The AKP won 326 of the 550 seats, 14 fewer than in 2007, while the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the traditional voice of secularism, captured 23 more seats for a total of 135. As a result, the AKP will have to negotiate a new constitution to replace the one drafted by the army in 1982 with the opposition parties, including the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, as it did not achieve the 330 seats needed to make amendments and submit them to a referendum.