10 things you need to know today: May 15, 2023

Turkey's presidential election appears headed to runoff, Zelensky vows to reclaim occupied lands from Russia, and more

Turkish voters wear flags of the AK Party and showing Erdogan's face
An unofficial vote count showed neither of Turkey's main presidential candidates winning a majority
(Image credit: ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Turkey's presidential election appears headed to a runoff

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, appeared to be headed to a runoff, as an unofficial count showed neither winning a majority in Sunday's presidential election. State-owned news agency Anadolu said with nearly all ballots counted Erdogan led with 49.4 percent of the vote, compared to 44.8 percent for Kilicdaroglu. A third candidate got 5 percent. The vote marked the biggest challenge Erdogan has faced in his 20-year rule, and a referendum on Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian policies. Opinion polls ahead of Sunday's vote had given Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of a six-party alliance, a narrow lead over Erdogan, whose support thinned due to an economic crisis and the government's slow response to a February earthquake that killed 50,000.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.