Millions of Turks flocked to vote yesterday in a parliamentary election seen as crucial to the future direction of this large Muslim but secular democracy straddling Europe and the Middle East. Opinion polls show the ruling pro-business, Islamist-rooted AK Party government winning a fresh five-year mandate but strong gains by nationalist and secularist opposition parties could slash its majority and result in slower reforms.

?Now the people will speak,? Sunday?s Milliyet daily said. Turkish television showed long queues forming at the polling stations. Voting is compulsory in Turkey and turnout is expected to be very high. Some 43 million Turks out of a population of 74 million can vote. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, 53, Turkey?s most popular politician, called the poll months early after the secular elite, including the powerful army, stopped him appointing a fellow ex-Islamist, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, as president.