Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has elected Binali Yildirim as chairman and prime minister in a move viewed as strengthening President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grip over Turkish politics.
Tens of thousands of AK Party members and supporters gathered in Ankara to vote in the former minister for transport and communications, who stood as the sole candidate for the position.
The new prime minister echoed Mr Erdogan’s ongoing campaign to make changes to the country’s constitution that would allow him to rule through a presidential system of government.
"Turkey needs a new constitution and the government's most important mission is to change the constitution and bring about an executive presidency," Mr Yildirim said in the hours before his election. "The bridges, tunnels and fast trains are complete, but there is one thing we lack: a new constitution."
About 1,405 party delegates from the centre-right, conservative-Islamist party voted in Mr Yildirim, who sat next to the outgoing prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu during the gathering.
The extraordinary congress, the second in the party's history, was called following Mr Davutoglu's decision to resign this month amid an irreconcilable rift with Mr Erdogan. In a speech on Sunday, the outgoing prime minister said: "Going to this extraordinary convention after a successful election was not something I had demanded. The reason why I have decided to hold this convention and hand over the leadership was my concern that the AK Party movement would suffer."
Mr Davutoglu did not mention the issue of advancing the presidential system, thought to have been a major cause of division between him and the president.
A message from former party leader Mr Erdogan, whose official role in Turkish politics remains largely ceremonial, drew attendees including the incoming prime minister to their feet.
"I believe this weird rule that obliged the president to cut ties with the political cadres will be soon removed in this new era," congress chair Bekir Bozdag said of Mr Erdogan's comments. Mr Bozdag added his own thoughts by declaring: "The AK Party has just one leader, our president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "
A shake-up in ministerial and positions within the AK Party’s central committee is expected to follow and would see a changing of the guard within the party, which has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade.
Despite regular crackdowns on independent media outlets, journalists and political opponents, Turkey is a key partner in Europe's attempts to halt the stream of migrants and refugees from reaching member state Greece and other countries further north.
Turkish air bases close to the Syrian border are seen as important infrastructure for American air strikes on Islamic State positions across the border.