Turkey's parliament rejected on Monday a government proposal to make it harder to ban political parties, in a surprise blow to the ruling AK Party and its plans to reform the constitution. The article won the support of 327 deputies in the 550-seat assembly, falling short of the 330 votes needed for it to be accepted in the final round of voting. The article as a result will be dropped from the reform package. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to call a referendum if the AK Party fails to secure the necessary number of votes for the reform package as a whole.
