The conservative National Unity Party looks set to be the largest party in the Turkish Cypriot parliament after Sunday’s election, but it’s not yet clear whether the prior coalition will hold, according to preliminary results.
Candidates from eight political parties ran in Sunday’s election in the northern Turkish Cypriot state, which is recognized only by Turkey, with more than 190,000 people eligible to vote.
The focus of the election was on domestic issues — such as corruption, governance, economy, health and education — rather than last year’s collapsed negotiations for a peace deal with the Greek Cypriot south. However, the new government’s position on that issue could either strengthen or thwart any attempts by Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı to restart talks with his Greek counterpart.
The National Unity Party, the majority partner in the prior coalition government, which opposed last year’s reunification talks, has 36.18 percent of the vote with just over 58 percent of the votes counted, Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kıbrıs Gazetesi reported. The National Unity Party’s junior coalition partner, the center-right Democratic Party, is in fifth place at 7.91 percent.
The social-democratic Republican Turkish Party (CTP), which supports reunification, is in second place at 21.74 percent. The CTP won the last election in 2013 with a 38 percent vote share and ran the government until it fell apart in 2016 and was replaced by the National Unity Party.
In third place is a newcomer to the Turkish Cypriot parliament, the centrist People’s Party, which was created in 2016 by the former reunification negotiator Kudret Özersay.
Cyprus has been divided by a U.N. buffer zone since 1974. The Republic of Cyprus, the Greek area in the south, is recognized worldwide except for by Turkey, which keeps troops in the north.
Hopes for reunification crashed after the talks ended in the last stretch in July. They could resume after the Republic of Cyprus’ presidential election on January 28, followed by a runoff on February 4.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of candidates. Eight political parties are in the running.