Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoganThinkstock

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to return to power following Turkey's elections today.

Almost 90 percent of the ballots have been counted, and the official Anadolu news agency says that AKP is on track to receive 49.9 percent of the votes. The other parties expected to pass the 10 percent threshold are the primary opposition party CHP with 24.8 percent, the nationalist MHP, and the pro-Kurdish HDP.

AKP won the previous election in June but was unable to security a parliamentary majority. The party is now expected to obtain more than the 276 seats it would need to form a government on its own. However, the party is not projected to become powerful enough to make constitutional changes to increase the powers of Turkish President and AKP founder Erdogan.

Opposition parties had campaigned with the warning that Erdogan, who has led Turkey for the past 13 years, is an authoritarian who would take too much power if he gets the chance. HDP also claims that Erdogan has been increasing attacks against Kurdish targets in an effort to harm HDP supporters.