Turkey looks set to have an assembly dominated by two
extremist parties, the Islamists and ultra nationalists, after the
November 3 general election.
Opinion polls in mid-August unanimously confirm that the
Justice&Development Party (AKP) is in the lead and stands to
gain around 20% of the vote - nearly double that of its closest
rival. But the peculiarities of the election law means it is
uncertain that this will give the AKP a majority or even enough
seats in the legislature to be a part of the government.
Under the election law only parties that get more than 10% of the
vote gain seats in the 550-member Meclis. The only other party
definitely above this threshold is deputy prime minister Devlet
Bahceli's ultra right-wing Nationalist Action Party, which is
forecast to receive around 11% of the vote.
The five other mainstream centre-left and centre-right parties...
