Erdogan's party wins third term

Turkey's state-run television says the ruling party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won a third term in parliamentary elections. 

However, results indicated that the Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had not won a two-thirds majority in parliament, a shortcoming that would force it to seek support for constitutional change from other political groups.

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In a victory speech delivered from the balcony of his party's headquarters in Ankara, Erdogan promised to work with rivals toward a consensus over a new constitution for Turkey, which, he vowed earlier, would include "basic rights and freedoms".

"The people gave us a message to build the new constitution through consensus and negotiation," he said in the speech."We will discuss the new constitution with opposition parties."

With 99% of votes counted, Erdogan's party had won 50% of the votes, according to TRT, the state-run television. It said the Republican People's Party, the main opposition group, had 26% of the vote.

TRT said another opposition party, the Nationalist Action Party, had 13% of the vote, signaling it would stay in parliament by crossing a 10% vote threshold designed to keep out smaller parties.

According to the tally, the ruling party had won 326 seats in the 550-seat parliament, a comfortable majority that would ensure the continuation of its single-party rule. It had 331 seats in the outgoing parliament. Lawmakers serve four-year terms.

About 50 million Turks, or two-thirds of the population, were eligible to vote.

For the first time, voters cast ballots in transparent plastic boxes in which the yellow envelopes could be seen piling up. The measure was designed to prevent any allegations of fraud. In past elections, wooden boxes were used.

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