Turkey's Gul fails to win presidency in first vote

ANKARA: Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul failed to secure enough support in a first round of voting in parliament on Friday to become Turkey's next president, winning 357 votes, short of the required 367.   

A second round of voting has been set for next Wednesday, but the main opposition party has asked the Constitutional Court to rule Friday's parliamentary vote invalid as there were fewer than two thirds, or 367 deputies, in the chamber at the time.   

The court has said it will try to rule on the appeal before Wednesday's vote. If it upholds the opposition's appeal, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan must call a snap general election.

If it backs the government, Gul is expected to win in the third round on May 9, when he needs just a simple majority of 276 votes.