After Erdogan fails to win outright, Turkey faces a historic runoff election.

Turkey will have a runoff election on May 28 after longtime leader President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced into a second round with only a narrow lead over his rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Neither candidate achieved the required 50% to take the presidency outright, but Kilicdaroglu now faces a tough battle to win the second round. Official final results for Turkey’s election will be announced on Friday, and the electorate will turn to a second round of voting that could extend Erdogan’s 20-year grip on power or set the stage for a change in political direction. Erdogan said he was “already ahead” of his “closest rival” by 2.6 million votes. The leader of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been accused of negligence following the February 6 earthquake and overseeing an unorthodox fiscal policy that has plunged the nation into a cost of living crisis.

His decision to maintain close relations with Russia has also caused friction with NATO allies, and he campaigned on a manifesto championing the stability of his long rule, independent foreign policy and lowering the retirement age. He has promised an overhaul of Erdogan’s Islamist-leaning policies in favor of a political slogan based on secularism and fixing Turkey’s economic woes. He has promised an overhaul of Erdogan’s Islamist-leaning policies in favor of a political slogan based on secularism and fixing Turkey’s economic woes.