Some 50 million Turks are set to vote Sunday in parliamentary elections as the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), is expected to win a straight third term in office. The popularity of 57-year-old Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is largely due to the economic boom.
Turkey's gross domestic product grew by 8.9 percent in 2010, and the party has presided over the doubling of per capita GDP since coming to power in 2002.
The party needs a two-thirds majority of 367 seats in the 550-member house to pass new amendments unilaterally without recourse to a confirmatory referendum.
Candidates from 15 political parties and 200 independents are running in the parliamentary contest.
Only two main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Action Party (MHP) will make it over the 10 percent election threshold to sit in parliament as a group.
