The result likely puts an end, for now, to Erdogan’s hopes of passing constitutional changes that would have greatly boosted the powers of his office. Sunday’s election was a quasi referendum on these ambitions; the new powers would have altered Turkey’s democratic process and prolonged Erdogan’s period as the country’s most powerful politician.

If the AKP had won a majority of 330 seats, it would have called a referendum to change the constitution; if it had managed to receive 367 seats, it could have voted in a change without a referendum.

But now the party will have to seek a coalition partner to stay in power. The nationalist MHP party had seemed a likely candidate, but its leader Devlet Bahceli has ruled that out, and called for early elections if other options fail.