Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan failed to gain the majority of the vote in Turkey’s elections on Monday. This means a second round of elections will take place on May 28, according to the country’s electoral chief.

With 99% of the votes counted, the head of Turkey’s High Election Board, Ahmet Yener, confirmed that Erdoğan had received just 49.4% of the votes, which fell short of the 50% electorate vote required in order for a candidate to win.

Erdoğan was reportedly unwilling to admit defeat in the first round but said he welcomes a second one, which is scheduled in less than two weeks, on May 28.

“We don’t yet know if the elections ended in the first round,” the Turkish president said, while noting that votes from Turkish citizens living abroad had yet to be counted. “If our nation has chosen for a second round, that is also welcome,” he said.

Erdoğan’s main opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the People’s Republican Party (CHP), won 44.96% of the votes, while the third-place candidate, Sinan Ogan, earned just 5.2%.

“We will not sleep tonight, my people,” stated Kilicdaroglu, while asking the election board to publish the voting results from the various provinces.

Ogan proffered to support Kilicdaroglu in the second round, conditional upon certain “red lines.”

“We will consult with our voter base for our decision in the run-off,” he said.

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