NICOSIA: Breakaway Turkish Cypriots on ethnically divided Cyprus cast ballots Sunday in an election that many see as a choice between an even deeper alignment with Turkiye or a shift toward closer ties with the rest of Europe.
There are some 218,000 registered voters. Polls close at 1500 GMT. Seven candidates are vying for the leadership spot but the main two contenders are the hard-right incumbent Ersin Tatar and the center-left Tufan Erhurman.
Tatar, 65, vociferously supports permanently dividing Cyprus by pursuing international recognition for a Turkish Cypriot state that will be aligned even closer to Turkiye’s political, economic and social policies.
Tatar has taken his cue from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who repeated at the UN General Assembly last month that there are “two separate states” on Cyprus while calling for the international community to extend formal recognition to a Turkish Cypriot “state.”
Erhurman, 55, advocates a return to negotiating with Greek Cypriots on forging a two-zone federation. He has criticized Tatar’s reluctance to engage in formal peace talks during his five-year tenure as a costly loss of time that has pushed Turkish Cypriots farther on the international periphery.
