Turkish election results show Erdoğan in jeopardy

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appears to be falling short of the number of votes necessary to win reelection outright. With nearly all votes counted, Erdoğan had only scraped together 49.4 percent. His main challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, garnered 45 percent of the vote. The two are likely headed to a runoff election in two weeks.

What does this mean? Erdoğan has served as either prime minister or president of Turkey for two decades. Analysts have called this the toughest reelection bid he has encountered during that time. It comes after years of mounting criticism, including of his response to a recent devastating earthquake that killed more than 45,000 people in Turkey.

Dig deeper: Read Sharon Dierberger and Onize Ohikere’s report in WORLD Magazine about the humanitarian relief effort after that earthquake.