The frontrunner for Turkey's presidency Abdullah Gul failed to secure a two-thirds majority in the first round of voting in the Turkish parliament, BBC reported.

However, devout Muslim Gul, who is the country's foreign minister, is expected to win in the third round next week, when he only needs to gain a simple majority of the votes.

He won 337 votes, four less than in the first round of voting on Monday. To win in the third round, he needs 276 votes.

His nomination has been fiercely resisted by secularists, including army generals and opposition leaders, who fear he has an Islamist agenda.

The party, which has roots in political Islam, controls the parliament and secularists fear that should it take over the presidency as well, it would be able to undermine the existing constitution.

Gul himself denies the allegations and vowed to stay loyal to the country's secular constitution if elected.

His failed presidential bid in spring forced ruling party AK to call snap polls, which it won by a landslide last month.

However, that is unlikely to stop the military, which sees itself as the guardian of the secularist state, from toppling the government should it believe that the AK is infringing on the secular nature of the state.

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