Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to mission confidence Sunday in an in depth election that might finish his two-decade maintain on energy within the predominantly Muslim nation that includes NATO’s second-largest army drive.

“My hope to God is that after the counting concludes this evening, the outcome is good for the future of our country, for Turkish democracy,” Mr. Erdogan instructed supporters after casting his vote in Istanbul.

There was no definitive end result as polls closed Sunday night throughout Turkey, the place the 69-year-old president faces his thorniest problem in years amid home financial turmoil, eroding democratic norms and criticism of his authorities’s response to an enormous earthquake in February.

Analysts mentioned Mr. Erdogan is likely to be unseated by main opposition candidate Kemal Kilcdaroglu, who has run on a promise to return Turkey to a extra democratic path following years of autocratic strikes by the president’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

Pre-election polls gave a slight result in Mr. Kilicdaroglu, 74, the joint candidate of a six-party opposition alliance and the chief of the center-left, pro-secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP.

Crowds mobbed polling stations the place Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Kilicdaroglu solid their ballots Sunday, with the opposition chief’s supporters chanting “President Kilicdaroglu!”

“We have all missed democracy so much. We all missed being together,” Mr. Kilicdaroglu mentioned after voting. “From now on, you will see that spring will come to this country.”

His feedback mirrored years of criticism of Mr. Erdogan. Critics have lengthy mentioned the president has consolidated energy in an authoritarian vogue over the previous decade, cracked down on media freedom and embraced a model of Islamist nationalism that has threatened secular democracy in Turkey.

More than 64 million individuals had been eligible to vote in Sunday’s elections. If no candidate receives greater than 50% of the vote, the presidential race might be decided in a May 28 run-off.

Voters additionally solid ballots for lawmakers to fill Turkey’s 600-seat parliament, which has misplaced vital leverage lately amid strikes by Mr. Erdogan and the AKP to strengthen the attain and energy of the presidency.

If his political alliance wins, Mr. Erdogan might proceed governing with minimal restriction on the facility he has amassed in Turkey, which he has dominated as both prime minister or president since 2003.

• This article is predicated partly on wire service studies.

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