Turkish ruling party gears up for second term in power

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ANKARA, July 23 (AFP): Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party geared up Monday for its second five-year term in power after winning a landslide victory in legislative elections.
It was a moment of glory for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had called Sunday's early election after his party was blocked from electing one of its own as president in April amid a secularist campaign accusing his AKP party of seeking to erode Turkey's fiercely-guarded secular system.
"Our democracy has successfully passed a test ... Our unity, democracy and the republic have emerged stronger from the ballot box," Erdogan said overnight outside AKP headquarters as fireworks lit up the sky and hundreds of supporters cheered.
The governing party, won 46.3 percent of the vote, leading its closest rival by a wide margin, according to unofficial results after 99.9 percent of the ballots were counted.
It was the largest support a Turkish party has gained since the 1969 legislative election.
Erdogan faced the worst crisis of his career in April when the opposition boycotted a parliamentary vote in which his right- hand man, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, was almost certain to be elected president.
The crisis climaxed as the influential army warned in a stiff statement that it stood ready to step in to protect the secular system and millions of Turks took to the streets to demonstrate against the prospect of an AKP president.
"The result shows that the people do not blame political tensions on the AKP," political commentator Taha Akyol said. "The people have now authorised the AKP to elect the next president."
The vote is "the people's memorandum" to the army to stay out of politics, veteran journalist Hasan Cemal commented.
The AKP has disowned its roots, pledged commitment to secularism and carried out far- reaching economic and democracy reforms that ensured the start of Turkey's European Union membership talks in 2005.
It has dismissed the opposition's accusations that it has a secret Islamist agenda as "scare- mongering" to curb the AKP's rising popularity.
Erdogan's campaign focused on his party's impressive economic achievements since it swept to power five years ago.
His government has drastically reduced inflation, maintained strong growth and attracted record foreign investment with a strong privatisation drive.
It has also won credibility for easing access to medical care, providing free textbooks for schoolchildren and building cheap lodgings for the poor.
"The AKP's economic success was the key factor in its victory," economist Eser Karakas said. "The military's warning (that the secular system is under threat) was not taken seriously."
The support the AKP garnered should translate into 339 seats in the 550-member parliament, enough for it to once again form a government on its own.