April 18, 1999
Web posted at: 2:40 p.m. EDT (1840 GMT)

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- Ballot-counting was under way in Turkey Sunday, after Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and his Democratic Left party faced an election challenge from the Islamic Virtue party.

Some violence accompanied the elections. The Anadolu News Agency reported four people were killed and 14 wounded in separate incidents in the east and southeast, where fighting broke out between supporters of rival candidates.

Ecevit was leading in pre-election polls, and is expected to win a majority of votes in the national elections. But the Islamist Virtue party could claim a majority of seats in the next parliament because rural areas, where the party is strongest, are allotted more seats.

Turkey's constitution calls for a secular government, and the strong showing of the Virtue party has caused concern, particularly among the staunchly secular military.

Four other secular parties were also challenging in the elections. Turkey's secular parties favor strong Western ties and NATO involvement.

Turkey, which has had six government since the last elections in 1995, is hoping the latest elections will produce stability.

"If we get (what we've had in the past), people will ask why we went to the elections in the first place," said Ozer Gurbuz, a former deputy.

The military is also keeping a close eye on municipal elections in the largely Kurdish southeast, where the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HADEP) was expected to win mayorships in some key cities. But the party is not likely to win 10 percent of the total vote, a requirement to join parliament.

Both HADEP and the Islamist Virtue Party could be banned in a constitutional court later this year.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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