Turks began voting on Sunday in a presidential runoff that could see Recep Tayyip extend his rule into a third decade and persist with Turkey's increasingly authoritarian path, muscular foreign policy and unorthodox economic governance.Erdogan, 69, defied opinion polls and came out comfortably 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.His unexpectedly strong showing amid a deep crisis, and a win in parliamentary elections for a coalition of his conservative Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP), the nationalist MHP and others, buoyed the veteran campaigner who says a vote for him is a vote for stability. Erdogan, who has been at Turkey's helm for 20 years, is favoured to win a new five-year term.
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