Turkish Pres. Erdogan seems likely to fall short of votes needed for outright reelection victory, runoff expected.
nearly completed Sunday, making it more likely the country was headed toward a May 28 presidential runoff.
Erdogan, 69, has governed Turkey as either prime minister or president for two decades. In the run-up to the election, opinion surveys had indicated the increasingly authoritarian leader narrowly trailed his challenger. The opposition candidate’s party accused Anadolu of manipulating results, insisting at one point that the 74-year-old finance official was narrowly leading.
While Erdogan hoped to win a five-year term that would take him well into his third decade as Turkey's leader, Kilicdaroglu, 74, campaigned on a promise to return the country to a more democratic path and to repair its economy, battered by high inflation and currency devaluation. Voter turnout in Turkey is traditionally strong, but the government has suppressed freedom of expression and assembly since a 2016 coup attempt. Erdogan blamed the failed coup on followers of a former ally, cleric Fethullah Gulen, and initiated a large-scale crackdown on civil servants with alleged links to Gulen and on pro-Kurdish politicians.
Critics maintain the president’s heavy-handed style is responsible for a painful cost-of-living crisis. The latest official statistics put inflation at about 44%, down from a high of around 86%. The price of vegetables became a campaign issue for the opposition, which used an onion as a symbol. In a bid to secure support, he increased wages and pensions and subsidized electricity and gas bills, while showcasing Turkey’s homegrown defense and infrastructure projects.
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