Tufan Erhurman wins TRNC presidential election, defeating incumbent President Ersin Tatar
Baku, October 19, AZERTAC
Tufan Erhurman, the leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), has won the presidential election in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) with 62.76% of the vote, Anadolu Agency reported citing preliminary results announced by the electoral authority on Sunday evening.
Erhurman defeated incumbent President Ersin Tatar, who received 35.81% of the vote.
Voter turnout in the presidential election was 64.87%, the Supreme Election Board of Northern Cyprus said.
Following the election results, Erhurman said: “Foreign policy will naturally be conducted in close consultation with Türkiye—let there be no doubt about that.”
Responding to the election results, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said: “The elections have demonstrated the maturity of the TRNC as a state and of its voters. As the motherland and guarantor country, we will continue to stand by the TRNC.”
Earlier, voting for the presidential election began on Sunday morning, with voters casting ballots from 8 am (0500GMT) to 6 pm (1500GMT) at 777 polling stations across the country. The TRNC has 218,313 eligible voters.
Incumbent President Ersin Tatar ran as an independent candidate, while Tufan Erhurman, leader of the main opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP), contested as his party’s nominee.
Mehmet Hasguler, Arif Salih Kirdag, Ahmet Boran, and Ibrahim Yazici also ran as independents, while Osman Zorba represented the Cyprus Socialist Party.
Huseyin Gurlek, whose name appeared on the ballot, had initially planned to run but withdrew his candidacy on Saturday in support of Ersin Tatar.
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