Northern Cyprus parliamentary election, 2005
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Northern Cyprus

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Northern Cyprus

Cyprus dispute Annan Plan referendum President (List) Mehmet Ali Talat Prime Minister (List) Ferdi Sabit Soyer Assembly of the Republic Fatma Ekenoğlu (Speaker) Political parties Elections Parliamentary: 2005 Presidential: 2005 Constitution Foreign relations Diplomatic missions See also Politics of Cyprus

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Early parliamentary elections were held in the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on February 20, 2005, after the coalition government led by Mehmet Ali Talat lost its majority in the House of Representatives. The assembly has 50 members, elected for a five year term by mitigated proportional representation. A party must cross the election threshold (5% of the total vote) to get any seats in parliament.

Official results

The vote was a resounding victory for Mehmet Ali Talat's CTP-United Forces alliance, although it fell just short of a parliamentary majority. The UBP, DP and BDH have also crossed the 5% election threshold and have won seats in parliament. Party leader Mehmet Ali Talat will have to form a coalition, although a coalition even with the smallest Peace and Democracy Movement party will be sufficient to establish a majority. Talat has already said, however, that he not ruling out any option, even hinting he may offer a coalition to second-placed National Unity.

Nationwide results

As published by the Turkish Cypriot Electoral Commission in the Official Gazette on February 22:

	Party	Leader	Votes	% of total vote	Seats	+/-
	Republican Turkish Party and United Forces (CTP-BG)	Mehmet Ali Talat	261,287	44.5	24	5
	National Unity Party (UBP)	Dervis Eroglu	160,974	31.7	19	1
	Democrat Party (DP)	Serdar Denktash	71,764	13.5	6	−1
	Peace and Democracy Movement (BDH)	Mustafa Akinci	40,174	5.8	1	−5
	Social Liberation Party (TKP)	Hüseyin Angolemli	15,428	2.4	0	N/A
	New Party (YP)	Nuri Çevikel	5,998	1.6	0	N/A
	Nationalist Justice Party (MAP)	Ata Tepe	2,088	0.5	0	N/A

(+/-) - Difference in seats from 2003 election.

The participation rate was 80.82%, with 119,009 out of 147,249 eligible voters casting a ballot.

Aftermath

Under the Turkish Cypriot constitution, the members of the new parliament must gather to be sworn in 10 days after the results are officially published - in this case on March 4. Soon after this first session, President Rauf Denktaş will ask Mehmet Ali Talat to form the next government. Talat will then have 15 days to establish a coalition government.

Talat has said his party has not yet reviewed its options, although he said to journalists on February 23 that he has "two coalition alternatives: the Democrat Party or the National Unity Party".

June 2006 by-election

A by-election was held on 25 June 2006 to fill the positions left vacant by the death of Salih Miroglu (general secretary of the National Unity Party) and by Mehmet Ali Talat's election to the presidency. The two parliamentary seats in contention were in Lefkoşa and Girne.¹ This by-election was held together with municipal elections, and the United States Department of State reported that both "were generally free and fair".² Of the two vacant seats, one was held by the National Unity Party, the other by the Republican Turkish Party (RTP). The two elected candidates were Gülboy Beydağlı and Özkan Yorgancıoğlu, both of which belong to the RTP.³ The latter thus increased its representation in the Assembly from 24 to 25 seats. The ruling coalition of the RTP and the Democratic Party had difficulty forming a government after this by-election. When three deputies (two from the National Unity Party and one from the Democratic Party) resigned to form the new, progovernment Freedom and Reform Party in September, the coalition collapsed and Serdar Denktaş quit the government.⁴ The RTP then formed a coalition government with the newly formed Freedom and Reform Party, in which it was the biggest partner, holding seven ministries.⁵

References

General

• "Talat wins "parliamentary elections" in Turkish occupied areas", Cyprus News Agency (2005-02-21). Retrieved on 21 April 2008. 

Specific

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