A leading member of the pro-Islamist Welfare Party in Turkey says it will regroup under a new name soon after it is officially closed down. The party was banned by Turkey's Constitutional Court yesterday after being found guilty of violating the country's secular principles. The chief prosecutor said any attempt to set up a new party to replace Welfare would be unacceptable. As Chris Morris reports from Ankara, an intense period of political manoeuvring is just beginning:

A senior Welfare official told a new conference that the party will continue its mission under a new name and a new leader. Welfare's current leader, the former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, has been banned from party politics for five years and had his seat in Parliament taken away from him.

There could be further legal arguments about whether he is entitled to run again as an Independent, but he won't lead a new party. It's not yet clear who will emerge in his place, but there are plenty of candidates -- and that's where Welfare's determination to present a united front could unravel.

One new party named Virtue had already been set up by a group of former Welfare politicians before the Constitutional Court issued its verdict. Turkey's chief prosecutor, who framed the legal case against the Welfare Party, says he will not tolerate any attempt to continue the movement under a different name, but Welfare's leaders say they are confident that they can come back stronger than ever, even if it takes some time to organise a new nationwide movement.

Against this backdrop of political uncertainty, the chances of early general elections have increased. The prime minister Mesut Yilmaz leads a minority government which replaced a coalition led by Welfare last year.