Turkey’s veteran leader Recep Tayyip Erdo?an on Monday led a hotly contested election to extend his rule into a third decade, defying polls to enter an expected run-off for the presidency with momentum on his side.

After a hard-fought campaign that had raised hopes of an opposition breakthrough, Erdo?an won 49.3 per cent of votes in the presidential race, well ahead of his main rival Kemal K?l??daro?lu on 45 per cent, according to preliminary results from state media.

With no candidate securing more than 50 per cent, the tally as it stands would send Erdo?an and K?l??daro?lu to a second round of voting on May 28. As well as building a lead of more than 2mn votes over K?l??daro?lu in the presidential race, Erdogan’s rightwing coalition appeared on course to win an outright majority in the Turkish parliamentary election, bolstering his position in any run-off.