Turkey re-elected Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its Prime Minister for the Third Time

Turkey re-elected Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its Prime Minister for the third consecutive term after the poll on 12 June 2011. The vote however failed to deliver the super-majority he wanted. Recep Tayyip Erdogan belongs to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that won about 50% of the vote poll which gave the party 326 seats in parliament. However, he fell 41 seats short of the two-thirds majority required to amend the country's constitution without consulting other parties.

About Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been the Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003. Erdogan is also the chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan previously served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998.

Erdoğan was elected Mayor of Istanbul in the local elections of 27 March 1994. He was however banned from office and sentenced to a prison term because of a poem he recited during a public address in the province of Siirt on 12 December 1997.

He established the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on 14 August 2001. Since its inception, the AK Party became the largest publicly-supported political movement in Turkey. In the general election of 2002 the AK Party won nearly two-thirds of the seats in parliament, forming the first single-party government for 19 years. The AK party won the elections of 2007 making it the first time in 52 years that a party in power had increased its votes for a second term.

Election Consequence

The secular Republican People's Party (CHP) won 26% of vote and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) won 13%. Erdogan's party will now be forced to seek consensus to push through a planned new constitution.  Erdogan is of the opinion that a new charter will strengthen democracy and pluralism.

Turkey faced concern in the past that with a super-majority, Erdogan might reject consensus and write a constitution that would facilitate to cement his party's grip on power. Erdogan prefers a presidential system, rather than the current parliamentary one - a role for which he would be favourite after his third term ends.

An entirely AKP-approved constitution may have put an end to Turkey's EU hopes, as for the party other issues would take precedence. But a constitution with views from all parties may strengthen the country's chances of gaining membership into the European Union.
The current constitution of Turkey was written by the country's mililtary in 1982 in an attempt to protect their power.