Turkey's long-standing leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won a new five-year term after securing outright victory in the first round of a presidential poll.
Supporters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party celebrate the results of the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections. Photo: AFP
State media reports put Mr Erdogan on 53 percent with 99 percent of votes counted, and his closest rival Muharrem Ince on 31 percent.
He will now assume sweeping new powers, won in a controversial referendum last year. The post of Prime Minister will be abolished.
The opposition is yet to officially concede but said it would continue its democratic fight "whatever the result".
Mr Erdogan gave a triumphant victory speech from the balcony of his party's headquarters in the capital Ankara at 3am local time, declaring: "The winner of this election is each and every individual among my 81 million citizens".
Mr Erdogan also said the governing alliance of his AK Party had secured a majority in parliament, and the polls were a successful test of democracy.
Under Turkey's new constitution, due to come into force after the election, the president will hold considerable power.
Some critics argue the enhanced role will see too much power accumulated in one person's hands, and that Turkey lacks the checks and balances of other executive presidencies such as France or the United States.
The pro-Kurdish HDP looked set to reach the 10 percent threshold and enter parliament.
Voter turnout was high, at almost 87 percent, the state broadcaster said.
"I hope nobody will try to cast a shadow on the results," Mr Erdogan said.
As the BBC's Mark Lowen pointed out, the opposition was disputing the agency's reports of how many ballot boxes have been opened:
#CHP disputes @anadoluajansi data on how many ballot boxes have been counted and claims a big discrepancy https://t.co/Aexv0UgoL8
— Mark Lowen (@marklowen) June 24, 2018
Turkey remains under a state of emergency imposed in the aftermath of a failed coup in July 2016.
In second term as president, Mr Erdogan would govern under a new constitution which grants the president new powers.
Mr Erdogan was prime minister for 11 years before becoming president in 2014.
Mr Ince promised to push back what he characterised as a slide into authoritarian rule under Mr Erdogan, should he win.
Around 60 million Turks were eligible to take part in Sunday's dual polls.
As well as Mr Erdogan and Mr Ince, there are four candidates on the ballot, but none appeared to have won more than 8.4 percent of the vote.
Is the vote likely to be fair?
As well as the presidency, voters are also choosing members of parliament Photo: AFP
Security was tight at polling stations. Ahead of the vote, concerns were raised about potential voter intimidation and electoral fraud.
Turkey's election commission has already said it will investigate alleged irregularities in Urfa province, on the southern border with Syria.
Mr Ince said he would be spending the night at the electoral commission's headquarters in Ankara to ensure a fair count.
In a tweet, he asked election observers not to leave the ballot boxes. Mr Ince said the commission's system was reporting that far fewer boxes had been opened than state news agencies had announced.
Rights activists also say the press is not free to report on all sides.
Under Mr Erdogan's rule, the country has become the world's biggest jailer of journalists, according to monitoring groups.
But Mr Erdogan said Turkey was giving a lesson to the rest of the world in how democratic elections should be run.
- BBC
