Erdogan leads with half of Turkish votes counted

ISTANBUL, May 28 (Agencies): President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led his secular rival with half the votes counted in Turkey's runoff election, according to available state media report at 10.0pm Sunday, although his advantage was narrowing as more results came in.
Erdogan was winning with 56.4 percent of the vote with 49.4 percent of the ballots counted, while opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu had 43.6 percent of the vote, the Anadolu state news agency reported.
Erdogan, 69, defied opinion polls and came out ahead with an almost five-point lead over his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the first round on May 14. But he fell just short of the 50 per cent needed to avoid a runoff, in a race with profound consequences for Turkey itself and global geopolitics.
Polls closed at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT) after opening at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT). Polling stations were reportedly quieter in many places than two weeks ago, when turnout was 89 per cent.
The election will decide not only who leads Turkey, a NATO-member country of 85 million, but also how it is governed, where its economy is headed after its currency plunged to one-tenth of its value against the dollar in a decade, and the shape of its foreign policy, which has seen Turkey anger the West by cultivating ties with Russia and Gulf states.
Erdogan supporters gathered at a school near his home on the Asian side of Istanbul where he voted around midday (0900 GMT), before shaking hands and talking with the crowd