2010 Northern Cypriot presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Northern Cyprus on 18 April 2010.[1] The result was a victory for Derviş Eroğlu of the National Unity Party, who received 50.38% of the vote in the first round. If no candidate had crossed the 50% threshold, a run-off would have been held on 25 April.

2010 Northern Cypriot presidential election
18 April 2010
Turnout76.37%
 
Candidate Derviş Eroğlu Mehmet Ali Talat
Party UBP Independent
Popular vote 61,491 52,302
Percentage 50.38% 42.85%
Map showing the winners by the districts of Northern Cyprus. Orange denotes districts won by Eroğlu, while dark red denotes districts won by Talat.
President before election

Mehmet Ali Talat
CTP

 Elected President

Derviş Eroğlu
UBP

Background

The International Crisis Group stated in an article titled Cyprus: Reunification or Partition?, published on 30 September 2009, that the upcoming elections in April 2010, were of critical importance to the then-ongoing negotiations between Talat and Demetris Christofias to find a solution for the Cyprus dispute. It was stated that the election results could have a defining impact on the future of the island and whether it would be reunited or divided.[2][3]

Candidates

The two main candidates were the current President Mehmet Ali Talat from the Republican Turkish Party and the incumbent Prime Minister Derviş Eroğlu from the National Unity Party (Ulusal Birlik Partisi, UBP). In the parliamentary election the previous year, the UBP had narrowly obtained enough seats to form a single-party government.

Talat supported the negotiations for a new plan to reunify the island (and had also been in favour of the Annan Plan for Cyprus) whereas his opponent supports a "two-state solution".[4]

The other five candidates (all of them independent) were:[5]

Results

Turnout was 70%. The count on election night proceeded as follows:

  • 20% of the vote counted: Eroğlu at 48.9%, Talat at 43.7%[6]
  • 32% of the vote counted: Eroğlu at 48.9%, Talat at 43.3%[7]
  • 40% of the vote counted: Eroğlu at 49.2%, Talat at 43.3%[8]
  • 48% of the vote counted: Eroğlu at 49.6%, Talat at 43.1%[9]
  • 60% of the vote counted: Eroğlu at 49.7%, Talat at 43.0%[10]
  • 96% of the vote counted: Eroğlu at 50.3%, Talat at 42.8%[11]

According to final results, Derviş Eroğlu got over 50% of the votes in the first round, meaning a runoff was not necessary.

CandidatePartyVotes%
Derviş EroğluNational Unity Party 61,49150.37
Mehmet Ali TalatIndependent52,30242.84
Tahsin ErtuğruloğluIndependent4,6483.81
Zeki BeşiktepeliIndependent1,9861.63
Mustafa Kemal TümkanIndependent9640.79
Arif Salih KırdağIndependent5210.43
Ayhan KaymakIndependent1680.14
Total122,080100.00
Valid votes122,08097.43
Invalid/blank votes3,2142.57
Total votes125,294100.00
Registered voters/turnout164,07276.37
Source: Sabah

Aftermath

Derviş Eroğlu of the right-wing National Unity Party (UBP) said that he wanted to continue negotiation on the reunification of Cyprus: "My dream for a solution to the Cyprus problem continues. We will be at the negotiating table for an agreement that will continue the existence of our people in this land with honour."[12]

References
  1. "Today's Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news". Archived from the original on 10 May 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  2. Tokyay, Menekşe. "ICG: Kıbrıs'ta Karar Anı Yaklaşıyor". Bianet. Archived from the original on 10 May 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  3. "Cyprus: Reunification or Partition?". International Crisis Group. Archived from the original on 2 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  4. Talat: Election loss would kill Cyprus peace talks, Today's Zaman, 5 April 2010
  5. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-207420-102-trnc-president-says-turkeys-eu-membership-depends-on-solution-of-cyprus-problem.html%5B%5D
  6. Bahceli, Ayla Jean Yackley, Simon (18 April 2010). "Turkey wants Cyprus deal in 2010 after Eroglu win". Reuters. Retrieved 16 September 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. "Supporter of north Cypriot independence leads race". Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  8. "IC Publications". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  9. "Earth Times: show/319341,hardliner-ahead-in-turkish-cyprus-election.html". www.earthtimes.org. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  10. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "New Turkish Cypriot president poses 'serious problems' for reunification | DW | 18.04.2010". DW.COM. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  11. "Turkish Cypriot hard-liner wins election - Yahoo! News". Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  12. "Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
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