The stock market fell by more than 8 per cent after Sunday’s election brought an end to years of single-party rule and spelt the end to president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign for a constitution-changing majority to boost his own powers.
The lira fell by 5 per cent against the dollar to 2.79 lira. The main Turkish stock market index, the BIS 100, was down more than 7 per cent at 75,950, after recovering slightly from an initial plunge of 8 per cent.
It was the first time the index had fallen below 80,000 since March.
Yields on the country’s 10-year benchmark government bond rose from 9.32 per cent on Friday to 9.94 per cent on Monday as investors sold Turkey’s sovereign debt.
AKP support fell to 41 per cent, from almost 50 per cent in the previous general election four years ago, based on results from almost 100 per cent of polling booths.
But the loss of the ruling party’s majority was also largely the result of the advance of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic party, or HDP, which was seeking to break the 10 per cent threshold required to enter parliament. Below that level, parties cannot be represented unless unofficially through independents who are allowed to stand.
The HDP had burst through the threshold with 13 per cent of the vote, apparently attracting votes from many liberal, secular Turks disillusioned by Mr Erdogan’s allegedly authoritarian rule, as well as from the Kurdish minority.
“The debate over the presidential system has ended in Turkey,” said Selahattin Demirtas, the HDP’s joint leader, in reference to Mr Erdogan’s bid to increase the powers of the head of state. Mr Demirtas also emphatically ruled out a coalition with the AKP.
Sunday’s breakthrough won the leftwing HDP some 79 seats and reduced the AKP’s ranks to about 258 seats — below the 276 needed for single-party majority government and far below the 330 seats Mr Erdogan needed to put constitutional changes to a referendum.
While Mr Erdogan said a shift from a parliamentary to a presidential system would increase the efficiency of government, all the main opposition parties countered that it would be a step towards dictatorship.
“Somebody will have to pay a price and I guess it will be Prime Minister [Ahmet] Davutoglu but the real loser is unquestionably President Erdogan,” said Soli Ozel at Kadir Has university.
Mr Davutoglu delivered a defiant late-night speech from the balcony of party headquarters. “The AKP is the winner of these elections,” he said. “Those who lost should not try to benefit from this . . . The AKP will continue to be on duty.”
Some party officials indicated that the AKP could seek to form a minority government and take the country to early elections, as the lira slid more than 4.7 per cent to a record low of 2.78 per dollar in early morning European trading.
The ruling party’s campaign was dogged by problems it had avoided during earlier races.
These included a slowing economy, the lack of a clear message and an awkward division of labour between Mr Erdogan and Mr Davutoglu. Policy divisions were evident between the two men on issues such as the economy and the presidential system itself.
The results also showed the main opposition Republican People’s party (CHP) roughly maintaining its previous level of support, with 25 per cent, and the rightwing Nationalist Movement party advancing to 16.4 per cent.
Tensions rose in the final days as rhetoric became ever more bitter. Two people were killed and more than 100 wounded at an HDP rally in the largely Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday. One suspect was later apprehended.
Mr Erdogan and Mr Davutoglu said their opponents were part of an international plot against Turkey. The president also fulminated against the international media, particularly the New York Times, which he said was owned by “Jewish capital”.
Many HDP voters in the Diyarbakir region expressed confidence that the party was running well above the 10 per cent level but were worried about possible fraud. “We’ll get at least 15 per cent if they don’t steal any votes,” said Celal Tayfur, a 73-year-old resident of the village of Dokuzceltik.
Mehmet Tekin, a young farmer from the same village, said he had previously voted for Mr Erdogan but would never do so again because of his perceived passivity in the face of attacks on Syrian Kurds by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or Isis.
More about:
