Turkey heads for tense election runoff as Erdoğan battles to keep power
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Turkey's strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan faced the strongest challenge to his 20-year rule Monday, failing to secure enough votes to stop a runoff with his opponent in a pivotal election for the powerful NATO member.
The vote was being closely watched from Washington and Brussels to Moscow and Beijing. Though Turkey is a NATO ally and holds elections, the country of 84 million has slipped further toward authoritarianism under Erdoğan and kept close ties with Russia.
The president won 49.51% of the votes in Sunday's presidential election — just short of the 50% needed to secure victory outright, High Election Board head Ahmet Yener said in a statement Monday.
