Support for Turkish ruling party seen rising - poll

ANKARA, May 10 (Reuters) Turkey's ruling AK Party will increase its share of the vote in a July 22 parliamentary election and may be able to form another single-party government, according to an opinion poll published today.

Investors are hoping the pro-business AK Party, which has Islamist roots, will clinch a clear majority because a coalition government could spell political instability and slower reforms in the European Union candidate nation.

The poll, published in the weekly Tempo magazine and quoted by Hurriyet newspaper, showed AK winning 41.3 per cent of the vote, up from 34 per cent in the 2002 election and well above another recent poll that gave it just 29 percent.

Only the centre-left opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and a newly formed centre-right grouping comprising True Path (DYP) and Motherland (ANAP) are seen clearing Turkey's 10 percent threshold to enter parliament, according to the poll.

No further details were immediately available.

Opinion polls in Turkey are not always reliable.

The Tempo survey, conducted in early May, contradicts the findings of another poll by the Sonar agency which showed five parties in total entering parliament at the next election, a scenario that would force AK into a coalition.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government has been forced to call the election three and a half months ahead of schedule to defuse a conflict with Turkey's secularist elite over a presidential election.

The secularists, including powerful army generals, objected to AK's choice of presidential candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, on account of his Islamist past. In Turkey, parliament elects the president.

Gul has withdrawn his candidacy and the presidential contest has been postponed until the new parliament has been elected.

Reuters RJ DS1325