AKIPRESS.COM - In a stunning rebuke of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambitions to expand his powers, Turkish voters stripped his party of its simple majority in parliament, preliminary election results showed Sunday.

With 99.9 percent of the vote counted, Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, the AKP, had the support of around 41 percent of voters, state-run TRT television said. According to projections, that would give it some 258 seats — 18 below the minimum needed to keep its majority, reports The Associated Press.

The unexpected setback for AKP likely puts an end, for the time being, to Erdogan's hopes of passing constitutional changes that would have greatly boosted the powers of his office. Instead, he faces struggles to retain his pre-eminent place in Turkish politics without the obvious levers to steer the government through his party in parliament.

The result is also a bitter blow to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose political prospects are uncertain after leading his party to such a disappointing result. AKP will now have to seek a coalition partner to stay in power, with the nationalist MHP the most likely candidate.

Late Sunday, Davutoglu declared victory in the election, but didn't acknowledge his party had lost its majority.

The main secular opposition Republican Peoples Party, or CHP, got about 25 percent of the vote, while MHP got just above 16 percent.