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Turkey's parliament has failed for a second time to elect the Islamist-rooted governing party's candidate for president, Abdullah Gul.

Not enough MPs were present for the election to be valid, Speaker Bulent Arinc said after an initial count.

After the session, Mr Gul, current Turkish Foreign Minister, said he was withdrawing from the race.

MPs had failed to get a quorum in the first round, leading that vote to be annulled by the constitutional court.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters attended rallies in western Turkey to call for Mr Gul, the only candidate in the election, to withdraw and for the secular system to be upheld.

After the first round of the vote was cancelled, Mr Gul's AK party reacted by saying it had been like "firing a bullet at democracy".

KEY DATES
2 May: Ruling party requests early elections
6 May: Suggested first re-run of parliamentary election for president
16 May: President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's term ends
22 July: Likely date for early general election (currently set for November)

Q&A: Turkey's crisis
Tough test for democracy

The party's leader, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called for an early election for 22 July, and proposed electoral reforms.

He said he wanted the president to serve up to two five-year terms, instead of one seven-year term, and for parliament's term to last four years instead of five.

Mr Erdogan also said he wanted the president elected by the people not parliament and Mr Gul said he would win easily if that were the case.

Deep divisions

Parliament had required a quorum of 367 MPs - or two-thirds - for Sunday's vote but was only able to muster 358, Mr Arinc said.

The AK holds 350 seats in parliament.

The row over the presidency has exposed deep divisions in Turkey.

The army, which has long regarded itself as the guardian of the country's secular constitution, has voiced its opposition to Mr Gul's candidacy.

It believes Mr Gul has an Islamist agenda, an allegation he denies. He has pledged to adhere to the republic's secular principles if he were elected.

Mr Gul's promise was not enough, however, to stop further protests by tens of thousands of secular Turks against his candidacy in the towns of Manisa and Canakkale on Saturday.

Earlier demonstrations in Ankara and Istanbul drew more than a million.

The term of the current president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, finishes on 16 May.