Even though it scored a categorical and expected win in Turkey's parliamentary elections on Sunday, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Taiyyp Erdogan was denied the two-thirds majority it sought to achieve.

With 99.7% of the votes counted, Erdogan's AKP received 49.9%, CNN Turk reported. This means that AKP will have 325 MPs in the 550-seat unicameral legislature.

While Erdogan's win was expected, the big question has been if the opposition will manage to deny the AKP a two-thirds majority that would allow the ruling party to change Turkey's Constitution.

There have been indications that Turkish PM Erdogan is aiming at setting up a presidential republic similar to the French model, and at being elected President.

The results of Sunday's elections have nonetheless solidified the positions of the Justice and Development Party, which won 47% of the votes in the 2007 elections and 34% in 2002.

The largest opposition party, the People's Republican Party CHP is second with 25.9%, followed by the Party of Nationalist Action MHP with 13%.

These are the only three parties that make it beyond the 10% threshold for entering the Turkish Parliament.

Sunday's election day in Turkey ended at 5 pm local time (EET). There are reports of a numer of incidents and about 40 arrests in Ankara and in the southeast party of Turkey, the home of the Kurdish minority.

In his election win speech Sunday night, Turkish PM Erdogan declared his party's intention to start talks with the opposition and the civil society in order on the adoption of a "new, liberal" Constitution to be based on the principles of pluralism and to find a solution of the Kurdish question.

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