Erdogan scents victory in election runoff as stock market falls

As Turkiye heads to a presidential election runoff on 28 May, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed today that he will have a landslide victory, Anadolu has reported. “Now is the time to crown the success we achieved [in the election] on 14 May with a greater victory,” Erdogan wrote on Twitter.

Millions of voters went to the polls on Sunday to elect the country’s president and members of its 600-seat parliament. Erdogan’s People’s Alliance won a majority in parliament, while the presidential race is headed to a second-round runoff, the incumbent took the lead in round one. He will face his closest competitor Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance, in round two.

Meanwhile, Turkiye’s benchmark stock index opened on Tuesday at 4,405.99 points, down by 2.12 per cent — 95.22 points — from the previous close. Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index closed on Monday at 4,501.21 points, decreasing rapidly by 6.14 per cent, with a daily trading volume of 55.4 billion Turkish liras ($2.8 bn).

READ: Turkiye set for presidential runoff, as neither Erdogan nor Kilicdaroglu secure 50% of the vote