The battle for Turkey’s presidency will be decided by a run-off in two weeks, with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan comfortably beating his chief rival but failing to pass the 50 per cent threshold required to win outright.
Seeking to extend his 20 years in power, pre-election polls had suggested that Mr Erdogan looked vulnerable against an unusually broad-based six-party opposition united behind rival Kemal Kılıcdaroglu – who were seeking to capitalise on voter anger at the country’s economic crisis and the authoritarian turn the nation has taken in recent years as Mr Erdogan has cemented his control.
