Turkey heads for tense election runoff as Erdoğan battles to keep power

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.