Assembly of the Republic (Northern Cyprus)

The Assembly of the Republic (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Meclisi) is the parliament of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It has 50 members, elected for a five-year term by mitigated proportional representation. A party must cross the electoral threshold (5% of the total vote) to be awarded any seats. The parliament is composed of 50 MPs, chosen from six electoral districts, which are coterminous with the districts of Northern Cyprus: Lefkoşa, Gazimağusa, Girne, Güzelyurt, Lefke and İskele.

Assembly of the Republic

Cumhuriyet Meclisi
9th Parliament of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Type
Type
Leadership
Teberrüken Uluçay, CTP
since 9 February 2018
Zorlu Töre, UBP
since 9 February 2018
Ersan Saner
since - 9 December 2020
Leader of the Main Opposition of Northern Cyprus
Tufan Erhürman, CTP
since 22 May 2019
Structure
Seats50
Political groups
Government (25)
  •   National Unity Party (20)
  •   Democratic Party (3)
  •   Rebirth Party (2)

Supported by (3)

  • Independents (3)

Opposition (21)

Elections
Party-list proportional representation
D'Hondt method
Last election
7 January 2018
Next election
7 January 2023
Meeting place
Assembly of the Republic
Köşklüçiftlik, North Nicosia,
Northern Cyprus
Website
Assembly of the Northern Cyprus
Northern Cyprus
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Northern Cyprus

In Northern Cyprus parliamentary elections, voters vote for individual candidates. There are two ways of voting.

  • Voters can vote for a party, which in effect is voting for every MP candidate from that party in that district once. The voter can further prioritize the MPs in this kind of voting.
  • Alternatively, the voter may not choose a party, but vote for candidates from different parties. In this kind of mixed voting, the voter cannot choose more than the number of MPs the district is allotted.

Current composition
Main article: 9th Parliament of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Main article: Northern Cyprus parliamentary election, 2018

Parliamentary elections were last held on 7 January 2018. A coalition of four parties was formed between Republican Turkish Party (CTP), People's Party (HP), Communal Democracy Party (TDP) and Democratic Party (DP).

Party Votes % Seats +/–
National Unity Party1,907,03035.5821+7
Republican Turkish Party1,121,47820.9212–9
People's Party915,66617.089New
Communal Democracy Party463,0818.643+1
Democratic Party420,1027.843–9
Rebirth Party375,1137.002New
Alliance for Change and Liberation (TKP-YG+BKP)143,6452.6800
Nationalist Democracy Party7,0830.130New
Independents6,9510.1300
Total5,360,149100500
Valid votes
Invalid/blank votes
Total votes cast126,196100
Registered voters/turnout190,55166.23
Sources: BRTK Kıbrıs

Note: Each voter may cast multiple votes, one for each seat in the parliament. Hence, the vote totals may exceed the number of registered voters.

However, following the resignation of Finance Minister Serdar Denktaş on 8 May due to a dispute regarding the allocation of state-owned land on to a university,[1] the People's Party withdrew from the coalition government, which caused the government to collapse.[2] On 9 May 2019, Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman presented the Government resignation to President Akinci.[3]

On 23 May, the UBP-HP coalition officially became the governing coalition after 2 weeks of talks, with the post of Prime Minister being handed over to Ersin Tatar.[4][5]

2020 presidential election and the fall of the government
This section is an excerpt from 2020 Northern Cypriot presidential election § Partial reopening of Varosha and the fall of the government[edit]

On 6 October 2020, with five days to go before the election, Ersin Tatar flew to Ankara upon the special invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This was the date for the scheduled reopening of the Northern Cyprus Water Supply Project after months of repairs, but the High Electoral Board had banned any political speeches at the reopening ceremony in Cyprus. The ceremony took place nonetheless, with Tatar and Erdoğan taking part virtually via videoconferencing from a live press conference in Ankara.

During the ceremony, Tatar announced that the ghost town of Varosha, which had been sealed off during the 1974 conflict after the flight of its Greek Cypriot population, would be partially reopened on 8 October. This would involve the reopening of a couple of avenues and the beach for the public to visit. Erdoğan stated his support for the move and said that the infrastructure work required would be completed swiftly.[6]

The move met with condemnation from Josep Borrell, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, and expressions of concern from the United Nations Security Council and Russia. The UN Security Council presidential statement urged the reversal of the decision and that the UN Security Council decisions regarding Varosha be respected.[7][8]

This move was seen as a pre-election political manoeuvre by other political figures in Northern Cyprus.[9] Akıncı said that the developments were "a black stain on Turkish Cypriot democracy", saying that they constituted "yet another development in the interference with our elections just to confer advantage to one candidate". He also called using the reopening of Varosha as campaign material a "grave mistake".[10]

Kudret Özersay, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of the People's Party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, said that he had no prior knowledge of the reopening, and that without a Council of Ministers decision, this could not possibly be a real reopening of Varosha.[11] The Party Assembly of the People's Party decided to withdraw from the coalition, leading to a collapse of the government, citing Ersin Tatar's "bypassing" of his coalition partners and "using Varosha as an election ploy" as the reason.[12]

Location

The parliament building is located on Osmanpaşa Caddesi, opposite the Turkish embassy in North Nicosia. The building is a two-storey colonial structure.

Council of Europe assembly representation

In 2004, the Turkish Cypriot community was awarded "observer status" in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Since then, the two Turkish Cypriot representatives to PACE are elected by the Assembly of Northern Cyprus.[13]

  • 2005–2007: CTP Özdil Nami; UBP Huseyin Ozgurgun[14]
  • 27 January 2011: CTP Mehmet Caglar; UBP Ahmet Eti[15]
  • 4 December 2013: CTP Mehmet Caglar; UBP Tahsin Ertugruloglu[16]

See also

References
  1. https://www.lgcnews.com/finance-minister-serdar-denktas-resigns/
  2. https://www.lgcnews.com/peoples-party-hp-quits-government/
  3. http://www.financialmirror.com/news-details.php?nid=36982
  4. https://www.lgcnews.com/ubp-and-hp-form-new-coalition-government/
  5. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n-cyprus-parties-agree-to-coalition-government-143615
  6. "Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan: Maraş'ın bütünüyle kullanıma açılmasını temenni ediyoruz". Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  7. "EU condemns northern Cyprus plan to reopen beach in no man's land". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  8. "Concerned by Turkey's Plan to Reopen Varosha Coast, Security Council Presidential Statement Calls for Reversal of Decision, Urging Adherence to Resolutions". United Nations. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  9. "Varosha: Turkey reopens deserted Cyprus resort but tourists will wait". BBC. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  10. "Akıncı: "Demokrasimiz açısından yüz karasıdır"". Yenidüzen. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  11. "Tatar'a yüklenen Kudret Özersay'dan Maraş açıklaması: "Bu Maraş'ın açılması değil, Maraş'a dair açıklamadır"". Kıbrıs Postası. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  12. "Yenal Senin HP'nin hükümetten çekildiğini doğruladı: "Hükümetin bozulma sebebi Ersin Tatar'dır"". Kıbrıs Postası. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  13. James Ker-Lindsay (UN SG's Former Special Representative for Cyprus) The Foreign Policy of Counter Secession: Preventing the Recognition of Contested States, p.149
  14. Today's Zaman
  15. Sabah
  16. RoC

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