As it happened: Erdoğan vows 'new era' after elected Turkey's 12th president --- Around 53 million people headed to the ballot box across Turkey on Aug. 10 to choose the country’s next president, with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan being elected by popular vote for the first time in the nation’s history. -- The three candidates, Erdoğan, who has ruled the country for 12 years as prime minister, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and a joint candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş each called on their supporters to vote, but the turnout was lower than expected. -- Erdoğan was elected in the first round, sweeping more than half the vote in a result his opponents fear heralds an increasingly authoritarian state. --- The new president will serve a five-year term and has the right to stand for another stint in office. Outgoing President Abdullah Gül’s tenure will end on Aug. 28. -- More, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com