AK Party leads in Mediterranean region, including MHP leader's hometown

The Justice and Development (AK) Party came first in all provinces in the Mediterranean region in the Nov. 1 general elections, with 98 per cent of the votes counted.

The general support for the AK Party increased significantly in the region compared to the June 7 election. The AK Party managed to take the lead in two new provinces in the region. Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) lost the lead in Mersin, one of the important cities in the region, to the AK Party as it came first with 31 percent of the votes.

Another new victory for the AK Party was the hometown of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli. The MHP lost the majority of votes in Osmaniye, the only province it previously led, in which the AK party took the lead with 46 percent, up from 38 percent in the June election.

The majority of the votes in Antalya, the region's biggest province were also for AK Party as it received 41 percent while unner-up CHP won 33 percent.

While the AK Party came first in 63 provinces across Turkey, the HDP lead in 12 south-eastern provinces, losing control of Ardahan and Kars to the AK Party, two north-eastern border provinces.

According to 98 percent vote count so far, AK Party leads with 49.35 percent votes (316 parliamentary seats), followed by the CHP with 25.45 percent (134 seats).

The MHP got 11.97 percent votes (41 seats), while the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) secured only 10.61 percent (59 seats), which is just above the election threshold requirement of 10 percent.

The preliminary voter turnout across Turkey stood at 86.76 percent.

The preliminary results were released after Turkey's Supreme Election Board lifted a broadcast ban at 7 p.m. local time.

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