From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernici, and this is the Daily.

Skyrocketing inflation and a devastating earthquake left Turkish President, Regip Type

Erdogan, vulnerable at the ballot box for the first time in his 20 years in power.

In an election over the weekend, he was forced to run off the first in Turkey's history.

Today, my colleague Ben Hubbard on Erdogan's fight for political survival and what it says about democracy in Turkey.

It's Wednesday, May 17th.

So Ben Turkey just had an election over the weekend where the country's leader,

Regip Type Erdogan, failed to clear the hurdle to win outright.

And now the country's headed to a runoff. Help us understand what this means.

I mean, this was really a remarkable moment in

monitor Turkish history and in the history of Erdogan, who has been by far the dominant politician

on the national stage here for the last 20 years. Going into the vote on Sunday, he was down in

the polls, which he has never been before, and he went into the election and he lost support

in districts of Kosh the country, had fewer people voting for him. And he failed to get more than

50% of the vote, which would have automatically given him a third presidential term.

But if you look at this another way, it's not a setback at all. He's still in this race,

and this is really the latest chapter in the longer Erdogan story, which is one of a politician

of incredible talents, who has just repeatedly against the odds managed to keep himself on top.

Right, I mean, I covered Turkey for four years, and I just remember Erdogan as this astute,

savvy force that was just absolutely dominant in Turkish politics. So let's talk about that then.

Where does the story of Erdogan as political survivor begin?

Before Erdogan came along, Turkish politics tended to be dominated by elites in the big cities,

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