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Ruling AKP set for majority after five months of limbo

TURKEY’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was on the cusp of a parliamentary majority last night after the country’s second general election in five months.

State press agency Anadolu said that, with 95 per cent of votes counted, the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and PM Ahmet Davutoglu had taken over 49 per cent of votes and would pass the 276-seat majority mark.

The contest was a rerun of the June election in which AKP surprisingly lost the exclusive governmental role it had enjoyed for 13 years.

As the result became clear, protests in the Kurdish majority city of Diyarbakir turned into clashes with police.

Turkey is seeing its worst violence in years, with renewed fighting between security forces and Kurdistan Workers’ Party rebels killing hundreds of people and shattering an always-fragile peace process.

Two recent massive suicide bombings that killed 130 people were attributed to Islamic State, but were directed at Mr Erdogan’s left-wing and pro-Kurdish opponents.

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