![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/JN9LXf.png\")
<\/p>\nMain opposition leader Tufan Erh\u00fcrman of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) won Sunday’s presidential election in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), according to unofficial results. <\/p>\n
“Foreign policy will be conducted in close coordination with T\u00fcrkiye,” Erh\u00fcrman said after the announcement. <\/p>\n
The TRNC Supreme Election Board reported that with 735 of 777 ballot boxes counted so far, Erh\u00fcrman had 62.8% of the vote, while incumbent President Ersin Tatar trailed with 35.77%.<\/p>\n
Polling for the first round of the presidential election began on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
TRNC voters began casting ballots at 8 am (0500GMT) and cast their ballots until 6 pm (1500 GMT) at 777 polling stations across the country.<\/p>\n
The TRNC has 218,313 eligible voters.<\/p>\n
Mehmet Hasg\u00fcler, Arif Salih K\u0131rda\u011f, Ahmet Boran and Ibrahim Yaz\u0131c\u0131 ran as independent candidates, while Osman Zorba represented the Cyprus Socialist Party.<\/p>\n
A candidate will be elected president in the first round if they receive more than 50% of the vote (an absolute majority).<\/p>\n
If no candidate achieves an absolute majority, the top two candidates receiving the most votes in the first round will advance to the second round, to be held within seven days.<\/p>\n
The candidate receiving the highest number of votes in the second round will assume the presidential seat.<\/p>\n
The election comes at a time of heightened debate over the island\u2019s future. Ankara and the TRNC under Tatar\u2019s leadership continue to call for a two-state solution, stressing the need for international recognition of the TRNC and the equal political rights of Turkish Cypriots. Tufan Erh\u00fcrman, on the other hand, is sympathetic to the resumption of talks with Greek Cypriots on a bicommunal federation in Cyprus, instead of a sovereign state.<\/p>\n
As he cast his vote, Tatar told journalists that a long election campaign period had come to an end and that much had been expressed during the process. \u201cBut people also have their consciences. When it comes to matters of conscience, our people have certainly made their judgment. The Turkish Cypriot people are, of course, enlightened, cultured and rooted in national values and spirituality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tatar added that, \u201cThe Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus and its backers continue to impose every kind of injustice on the Turkish Cypriot people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are fighting against a mindset that is trying to impose a forced solution and deprive us of our sovereign rights here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Highlighting the two-state solution policy pursued over the past five years, Tatar said the TRNC had made its presence known to the international community, with support from President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan and the Turkish government throughout the process.<\/p>\n
He recalled Erdo\u011fan\u2019s address at the United Nations, in which the president said there are two states in Cyprus and called for the recognition of the TRNC, describing this as a significant achievement.<\/p>\n
Wishing for the election results to be beneficial, Tatar said, \u201cWhat matters most is the Turkish Cypriot people’s struggle for existence on these lands, their prosperity in the coming period and their rightful, legal, and sovereign future as one of the two constituent peoples of Cyprus.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n The Daily Sabah Newsletter\n <\/p>\n
\n Keep up to date with what\u2019s happening in Turkey,
\n it\u2019s region and the world.\n <\/p>\n
SIGN ME UP\n <\/p>\n
\n You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
\n This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Main opposition leader Tufan Erh\u00fcrman of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) won Sunday’s presidential election in the Turkish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,66847,111,139,69,66846,66845,66848],"class_list":["post-88448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ersin-tatar","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-trnc-elections","tag-turkish-cypriots","tag-two-state-solution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}