Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has lost the capital Ankara and looks set to lose the commercial hub of Istanbul after 25 years in power in both cities, as Sunday’s municipal election results — largely seen as a referendum on the president himself — roll in.
The Turkish lira fell sharply on the opening of London trade on Monday, the latest rout after a turbulent week that saw Turkey’s overnight swap rate shoot up as high as 1,200 percent as the central bank tried to shore up the currency.
On Monday morning, the lira quickly sunk at roughly 8:30 a.m London time after the country’s election board said the opposition party was ahead in Istanbul’s mayoral election, briefly trading at $5.6913. The currency had traded at 5.61 to the dollar after the initial results came in on Sunday evening, compared with 5.55 at Friday’s close.
The country’s BIST 100 stock index was down 1.65 percent as European markets opened.
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