Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of assuming greater powers suffered a major setback on Sunday, June 7 when the ruling AK Party he founded failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election for the first time. Erdogan, Turkey's most popular modern leader but also its most divisive, had hoped a crushing victory for the AKP would allow it to change the constitution and create a more powerful U.S.-style presidency. To do that, it would have needed to win two-thirds of the seats in parliament. Instead, it has been left unable to govern alone for the first time since it came to power almost 13 years ago. It faces potentially weeks of difficult coalition negotiations with reluctant opposition parties as it tries to form a stable government, and the possibility of another early election.

Early election seen

The partial results indicated that the HDP, with its roots in Kurdish nationalism, had succeeded in widening its appeal beyond its Kurdish core vote to centre-left and secularist elements disillusioned with Erdogan.

It is now likely to play a significant role in parliament, particularly trying to advance a two-year-old peace process between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which first took up arms in 1984.

Demirtas said earlier that the campaign had not been fair or just. A bombing on Friday, June 5, killed two people and wounded at least 200 at one of its rallies in Diyarbakir.

The results broadcast by CNN showed the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) would again be the second biggest group in parliament, with around a quarter of the vote.

Murat Karayalcin, the party's Istanbul chairman, said the outcome was a "clear no" to the executive presidential system championed by Erdogan, while party spokesman Haluk Koc ruled out a coalition with the AKP.

The right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), long seen as the AKP's most likely partner in any coalition, took around 16 percent of the vote.

Its leader, Devlet Bahceli, all but ruled out a deal with the AKP, saying Turkey should hold a new election if the ruling party was unable to agree a coalition with other opposition parties.

Tayyip Erdogan casts his ballot | Source: business insiderHDP Rally | Source: mei.edu

"The first possibility ... should be between AKP and HDP. The second model can consist of AKP, CHP and HDP," he said. "If all these scenarios fail, then early elections must be held."

A senior AKP official also said a coalition with the MHP was unlikely, and that the ruling party would rather go it alone and try to build support back up ahead of a new, early election.

"If there is an AKP-MHP coalition, then we will not be able to achieve even this level of votes at the next election," the official said.

The lira has fallen more than 15 percent against the dollar this year on uncertainty about the election outcome, making it one of the worst-performing emerging market currencies.

Many investors had hoped for a weakened single-party AKP government, avoiding the uncertainty of a coalition but without handing Erdogan greater power.

HDP Rally | Source: mei.eduTayyip Erdogan casts his ballot | Source: business insiderHDP Rally | Source: mei.edu