Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in as head of state today after winning a runoff election, extending his two-decade rule for another five years as Turkey's economic woes worsen. The inauguration in the parliament will be followed by a lavish ceremony at the presidential palace in the capital Ankara, which will be attended by dozens of world leaders.

Turkey's transformative but divisive leader won a May 28 runoff against a powerful opposition coalition despite an economic crisis and sharp criticism after a devastating earthquake in February that killed more than 50.000 people.

Erdogan won 52,1 percent of the vote and his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu 47,9 percent, official results show. Turkey's longest-serving leader faces immediate and major challenges in a third term fueled by a slowing economy and foreign policy tensions with the West.

"From a geopolitical standpoint, the election will intensify Turkey's recent push for an independent foreign policy," said Matt Gertken, chief geopolitical strategist at BCA Research. "That policy aims to extract maximum economic and strategic benefit from Eastern and autocratic states, while preventing a permanent severance of relations with Western democracies." Tensions with the West are likely to increase again, within that framework, now that Erdogan has a new mandate."

Solving the country's economic problems will be a priority for Erdogan with inflation at 43 percent, in part because of his unorthodox policy of cutting interest rates to spur growth. Late tonight, the president is due to unveil his new cabinet, and media is speculating that former finance minister Mehmet Simsek, a calming figure of international standing, could play a role.

Simsek is known for opposing Erdogan's unconventional policies. He was finance minister between 2009 and 2015 and deputy prime minister in charge of the economy until 2018, before resigning before the lira's series of falls that year.

The new members of the Turkish parliament were sworn in yesterday at the first session after the May 14 elections, which was also attended by Erdogan. His alliance has a majority in the 600-member parliament.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will attend Erdogan's inauguration this weekend and talk with him, the Alliance announced. NATO allies are anxiously waiting for Ankara to give Sweden the green light to join the US-led defense alliance ahead of a summit in July.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström tweeted that a "clear message" emerged at the NATO meeting in Oslo to Turkey and Hungary to start the ratification process. His Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu replied: "A crystal clear message to our Swedish friends!" Fulfill the obligations arising from the Trilateral Memorandum and take concrete steps to fight terrorism. The rest will follow."