Turkey's ruling AK Party today celebrated a decisive victory in a parliamentary election, but strong nationalist gains could hamper reforms crucial to its European Union bid.
With all votes counted from Sunday's poll, unofficial results gave the Islamist-rooted AK Party 46.5 per cent, up more than 12 points on 2002, but a more united opposition means it will get 340 out of 550 seats, slightly fewer than before.
It was a personal triumph for prime minister Tayyip Erdogan, a controversial but very popular politician, who called the poll early after Turkey's secular elite, including army generals, torpedoed his choice of an ex-Islamist ally as the next president.
The staunchly secular army, which ousted an Islamist predecessor of Mr Erdogan's party 10 years ago, had objected to the candidacy of foreign minister Abdullah Gul, fearing that as president he would erode the separation of religion and state.
Mr Erdogan also vowed to press on with political and economic reforms required by the EU, but his party lacks the two thirds majority in parliament needed to change Turkey's constitution and will have to work with opposition parties on many issues.
The Turkish nationalists will resist more rights for ethnic and religious minorities as well as other reforms sought by the EU and will also press Mr Erdogan to send troops into northern Iraq to root out Turkish Kurdish separatist rebels hiding there.
Some 27 mainly Kurdish independents also got into parliament, the first Kurds since the early 1990s.