Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a landslide victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections with 46.5 percent of the total votes.

AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also prime minister, announced Sunday night that his party has won the parliamentary election and will continue ruling the country.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan casts his vote during early parliamentary elections at a voting center in a primary school in Istanbul July 22, 2007. Millions of Turks flocked to vote on Sunday in a parliamentary election seen as crucial to the future direction of this large Muslim but secular democracy straddling Europe and the Middle East.

Addressing thousands of supporters of the AKP in front of the party's headquarters in Ankara, Erdogan said, "our union, democracy and republic have all gained strength at the ballot box."

"The national will was reflected at the ballot box in a free and transparent way," he said, adding that he felt quite pleased that "the citizens have expressed their choice in a peaceful and democratic atmosphere."

He reiterated that his party would continue to crack down on terrorism.

The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) gained 20.9 percent of the votes, ranking it second, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) gained 14.3 percent, ranking third.

MHP Chairman Devlet Bahceli said, "The Turkish nation brought AKP to power for a second time, we should respect our nation's will," according to the semi-official Anatolian News Agency.

Bahceli said in a written statement, "Our nation assigned us as the opposition. It is understood that in the 23rd parliament important duties fall on MHP's lap. MHP will try to fulfill these duties with a sense of responsibility."

In 2002 AKP became as the first party from the polls with 34.29 percent of the votes and formed a single-party government. CHP was the opposition party in the parliament while the MHP was absent with only 8.36 percent of votes.

These three parties, out of the 14 participating parties in the election, passed the 10 percent threshold to enter the parliament. Seats that have been allocated to the parties are: AKP, 343; CHP,111; MHP, 71; independent candidates, 25.

During the counting process, Democrat Party leader Mehmet Agar announced that he resigned as his party only got 5.7 percent of votes, having no chance to enter the parliament.

Turkey's election laws require parties to earn at least 10 percent of votes in order to hold seats in the parliament.

The voting process for electing 550 parliament members has ended across Turkey as of 5:00 PM (14:00 GMT).

Fourteen political parties and a total of 7,394 candidates, including 699 independent candidates, ran for the elections.

The elections were scheduled to be held on Nov. 4 but were brought forward almost four months because of the failure to elect a new president after the CHP boycotted the presidential election in late April and early May.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2007)