Legal challenge clouds Turkish president poll

ANKARA, Apr 27 (Reuters) Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul failed in his initial bid to become Turkey's president today and the main opposition party tried to have the parliamentary vote annulled in an attempt to force an early general election.

The opposition CHP's appeal to the Constitutional Court highlights deep divisions between Turkey's secular elite, including army generals and judges, and the Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Secularists fear the election of the AK Party's Gul would threaten Turkey's secular system that separates religion and politics. In Turkey the president is elected by parliament.

As expected, Gul, an ex-Islamist, failed to obtain enough support from deputies to win today's first round of voting, winning 357 votes, short of the required 367.

A second round of voting is scheduled for next Wednesday.

The CHP asked the Constitutional Court to rule today's vote invalid because there were fewer than two thirds, or 367 deputies, in the chamber at the time after opposition parties mostly stayed away.

The speaker of parliament said 361 deputies were present in the assembly for the vote. The AK Party says only 184 deputies need be present for a vote to be valid.

A senior court member, Hasim Kilic, said in televised comments that the court would examine the appeal on Monday, but he could not say when a verdict would come.

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