Turkey Elections: AKP Taking Clear Lead in Partial Count

Officials count votes after the close of voting in Diyarbakir, Turkey, November 01, 2015. EPA/BGNES

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) is poised to win a majority of the votes in Turkey's early election, partial count suggests.

With 74% of the votes counted, it leaves the other 3 major parties trailing behind at 51%, state-Run Anadolu Agency says.

Its main rival, the People's Republican Party (CHP), has garnered 23%.

Pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP) is likely to pass the ten-percent threshold and make it into Parliament, with support at just over 10 percent.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is being widely described as "the big loser" according to the preliminary results, with 10.95%, a few percent down from its previous result.

After June 7's election, neither party secured a stable majority, and coalition talks failed, prompting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, founder of AKP, to call an early poll.

Projections by Daily Sabah, however, suggest the AKP is to have 325 seats - just 5 short of the number needed to trigger a referendum on whether to boost presidential powers. 

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