Turkey faces runoff election with Erdogan leading

A view of banners of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Turkey's main opposition alliance, in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2023. REUTERS/Cagla Gurdogan

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey headed for a runoff vote after President Tayyip Erdogan led over his opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Sunday's election but fell short of an outright majority to extend his 20-year rule of the NATO-member country.

Neither Erdogan nor Kilicdaroglu cleared the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second round, to be held on May 28, in an election seen as a verdict on Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian path.