Erdogan and Davutoglu announce election results with possible run-off

Turkey appeared to be heading for a presidential run-off with the parties of President Tayyip Erdogan and opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu declaring victory, but sources from both camps said they may not pass the 50 percent barrier needed to claim victory outright.

Preliminary results indicated Erdogan won by a comfortable margin but as votes continued to be counted, his chances of winning plummeted, paving the way for a May 28 runoff.

Both sides rejected the figures announced by the other and the official result has not yet been announced. Ankara's opposition mayor, Mansur Yavaş, said his party's tally put Kilicdaroglu at 47.42 percent, compared to 46.48 percent for Erdogan.

Pre-election opinion polls showed a slight lead in favour of Kilicdaroglu, who leads a six-party coalition. Two polls on Friday showed his approval rating exceeded 50 percent.

A senior official from the opposition alliance, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "It looks like there will be no winner in the first round. But our data suggests that Kilicdaroglu is in the lead."

Turkish media quoted the state-owned Anadolu Agency as saying that with about 75 percent of the ballot boxes counted, Erdogan received 50.83 percent to Kılıçdaroğlu's 43.36 percent.