ANKARA, May 1: Turkey's highest court on Tuesday annulled a parliamentary vote that elected the Islamic ruling party's candidate as president, following a challenge by the secular opposition.

The government said it would hold another vote in parliament on Wednesday, raising the prospect of a new battle. But a leading deputy, Sadullah Ergin, later said there would be no vote and that lawmakers would only discuss a new timetable. There was no immediate explanation for the conflicting statements.

The prospect of the ruling party candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, becoming president has prompted fears that a rise of political Islam could erode Turkey's long secular tradition. Hundreds of thousands of pro-secular demonstrators marched in Istanbul on Sunday in protest, calling for the government to step down. The government had hoped to strengthen its authority with Gul's bid to become Turkey's 11th president.

But the opposition Republican People's Party boycotted the first round of voting on Friday and asked for it to be cancelled, arguing that the vote was invalid because a quorum of two-thirds of Turkey's 550 legislators was not present.

“We've cancelled the first round. Whether the parliament will continue the vote or not, we can't know,” Constitutional Court spokesman Hasim Kilic said.

“Our court ruled that a quorum of 367 was necessary.”

The ruling party, which has 352 seats, would be hard-pressed to gather a quorum if it holds another vote. Lawmakers who boycotted the first round would likely to stick to their positions in a second vote.

It was unclear why the government would want to proceed with another presidential vote, knowing that the process could again lead to failure. The conflicting statements about whether a vote would take place suggested a degree of disarray in senior government circles over how to proceed.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was meeting his party leaders after the court decision, said he would make an announcement on the process later in the day.—AP