The Turkish lira continued its collapse this morning as investors interpreted Turkey’s decision to redo Istanbul’s municipal vote as yet another manifestation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s influence over independent institutions.
As Bloomberg notes, the decision drew instant condemnation from the opposition and some European officials.
The European Union called for Turkey’s election body to explain its reasons for the re-run “without delay”.
“Ensuring a free, fair and transparent election process is essential to any democracy and is at the heart of the European Union’s relations with Turkey,” the EU’s diplomatic chief, Federica Mogherini, said in a statement.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the decision was “not transparent, and incomprehensible to us”.
The French government also said the Turkish authorities needed to show “respect for democratic principles, pluralism, fairness [and] transparency” in the new poll.
It also raised investor concern that the nation’s recession-mired economy now faces an extended period of political turmoil.
“Turkey has had fair and free elections since 1950,” Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said on Twitter.
The “decision to reverse the March 31 Istanbul mayoral race, in which the governing party lost, is the book end of a historic era. Until now, it was one man, one vote, from now on it is: vote until the governing party wins.”
Protests have erupted across Istanbul over Erdogan’s decision to re-run the election…
The reaction is clear, sell Lira first…
Finally, to those daring to short the Lira (and Turkish stocks), strongman Erdogan has a message:
“Whatever we did to the terrorists threatening our borders, we will do the same” to those who are trying to sabotage our economy.
Be careful what you write analysts.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2JmrPRn Tyler Durden