Ruling party leads in snap elections in Northern Cyprus

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Voters in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is only recognized by Turkey, cast their ballots in the snap Parliamentary elections yesterday (January 23). The Supreme Election Board (YSK) has announced that with 70.64 percent of the votes counted, the ruling National Unity Party (UBP) is in first place with 39.82 percent of the vote.

As reported by the Anadolu Agency (AA), the UBP is followed by the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) with 31.46 percent, Democrat Party (DP) with 7.67 percent, Rebirth Party (YDP) with 6.95 percent and People's Party (HP) with 6.48 percent while the Communal Democracy Party (TDP), Communal Liberation Party New Forces (TKP-YG) and Independence Path Party (BY) have remained below the 5-percent threshold.

With the current standings, the UBP gets 24 seats, the CTP 18, the DP three, the YDP three and the HP two in the 50-member parliament.

Speaking to the press, Prime Minister and UBP leader Faiz Sucuoğlu has reportedly said that his party "completed the early election race ahead and will start work on forming a coalition government."

About the elections in Northern Cyprus

The voter turnout was 55.43 percent by 5.30 p.m. local time (1530GMT) yesterday, according to the election authority of the TRNC. Nearly 203,800 people went to the polls to elect lawmakers. Voting started at 8 a.m. (0600GMT) and ended at 6 p.m. (1600GMT).

Eight parties ran in the election, with 403 candidates contesting for seats in parliament. Among the candidates were 272 men and 131 women – nearly one-third – with the youngest born in 1996.

With COVID-19 cases surging recently due to the omicron variant, health measures kept political rallies small, with no more than 150 people allowed. Those diagnosed with COVID-19 were not eligible to vote.

The TRNC, last November, set the date for the Parliamentary elections, one year ahead of the schedule date

Currently, there are 49 deputies in the Parliament: 20 from UBP, 12 from CTP, six from HP, three from DP and TDP, one from YDP and four independent deputies. Some 40 of the 49 current deputies of the parliament ran in the election. After Ersin Tatar was elected as the TRNC's president, the number of deputies in parliament decreased to 49.

(EMK/SD)