ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the most votes in a weekend presidential election but he can’t claim victory because he failed to get the majority support required for an outright win. Preliminary results showed the longtime leader received 49.5% of the vote in Sunday’s election. His main challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, garnered 45%. Under a presidential system of government that Erdogan ushered in, the head of both state and government needs to receive more than 50% of the vote to secure office in a single election. Since neither Erdogan nor Kilicdaroglu did that, the two front-runners must face each other again in two weeks.
