Turkish lira up as opposition candidate to claim Istanbul mandate

17 Apr, 2019

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party (AKP) is appealing to re-run the March 31 local Istanbul election, for which initial results showed a narrow victory for CHP's Ekrem Imamoglu. That would end 25 years of control by the AKP and its Islamist predecessors.

Recounts of votes in Istanbul ended on Wednesday. Imamoglu has said he expected to be installed as mayor despite the AKP appeal in Turkey's largest city.

The lira on Tuesday slipped to as far as 5.8250 against the dollar, its weakest level since March, but closed at 5.77.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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