AK Party gets major boost in votes from Central Anatolia in November 1 polls

Leading in 63 provinces across Turkey, the Justice and Development (AK) Party not only remained victorious but also saw a substantial increase in votes in the Central Anatolia region in Sunday's polls.

The AK Party gained 300,000 more votes-amounting to a 7% increase- in the capital city, Ankara when compared to the June 7 elections.

The AK Party also led a landslide victory in Prime Minister and AK Party Chairman Davutoğlu's hometown Konya with 74.30%, gaining a further 10% of votes in the province since the last election.

With 65.47% of the votes in Kayseri, the AK Party gained two more deputies, whereas in Aksaray, Nevşehir and Kırıkkale - with 71.47%, 62.68% and 62.25% of the votes, respectively- AK Party votes rised more than 10% in contrast to the June elections,

The AK Party also increased its number of voters in Karaman, Niğde, Sivas and Çankırı by 10%.

However, one of the biggest gains for the leading party was Eskişehir; with a 7% increase in votes the AK Party surpassed main opposition the Republican Poeople's Party (CHP) with 43.27% of the votes and managed to get three deputies in total.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lost votes in all Anatolian provinces with it's biggest losses being Yozgat (a 15% decrease), Aksaray (a 13% decrease), Nevşehir and Kayseri (nine percent), closely followed by Nevşehir, Kırşehir and Karaman.

Meanwhile, the People's Democratic Party (HDP) witnessed a decline in votes from Central Anatolia, mostly around a one to two percent loss. However, in Niğde and Karaman the HDP gained new voters, reaching about 2% in these provinces compared to the June elections.

The AK Party clinched victory after securing nearly 50 percent of votes in Turkey's 26th general election Sunday.

Electoral committees across the country's 81 provinces, divided into 85 voting districts (Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir provinces have multiple districts), started the vote count after polls closed at 5 p.m. local time.

The preliminary voter turnout across Turkey is 87.26 percent.

More than 54 million Turks were eligible to vote in a poll to elect 550 deputies to the Grand National Assembly.

In general, the People's Democratic Party (HDP) and the MHP suffered losses, while main opposition CHP's votes mostly remained unchanged.

The AK Party currently leads with 49.35 percent of the votes (316 parliamentary seats), followed by the CHP with 25.45 percent (134 seats).

The MHP gained 11.97 percent (41 seats), while the HDP secured only 10.61 percent (59 seats), which is just above the election threshold requirement of 10 percent.