The process of electing the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community is underway in the occupied territories, with the 777 ballot boxes set up for the illegal “elections” opening at 8:00 a.m. The process, which is expected to be completed at 6:00 p.m., is characterised by interventions from Ankara and the alteration of the Turkish Cypriot demography.
The counting of votes will be done electronically, and the results are expected in about an hour and a half to two hours after the closing of the polls.
The final number of “voters” is 218,313, while there are 7 candidates. These are Osman Zorba (Cyprus Socialist Party), Tufan Erhürman (Republican Turkish Party), Arif Salih Kırdag (Independent), Ahmet Boran (Independent), Mehmet Hasgüler (Independent), İbrahim Yazıcı (Independent), and Ersin Tatar (Independent).
The “independent candidate” Hüseyin Gürlek announced yesterday, Saturday, that he was withdrawing his “candidacy.”
In his statements, Nikos Moudouros, Assistant Professor in the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cyprus, noted that the increase in the “electoral body” in the occupied territories results from the unnatural increase in “citizenships.” He added that the average number of births per year in the occupied territories is approximately 2,500 – 3,000, and noted that the natural increase in voters should be a corresponding annual number.
However, he said, over the last 10 years, the granting of “citizenships”, and therefore the granting of political rights, has averaged 4,500 – 5,000 annually. This means, he explained, that the increase in the electoral body comes from an abnormal increase in the granting of “citizenships.”
Therefore, the number of 218,000 announced as eligible to vote for 19 October, Mr. Moudouros stated, includes indigenous population, meaning Turkish Cypriots born in Cyprus and/or from a Turkish Cypriot mother or father, Turkish settlers who have acquired “citizenship,” or third-country nationals who have also acquired “citizenship” and the right to vote.
Regarding the ratio of settler voters compared to Turkish Cypriots, the Assistant Professor explained that if we compare the number of Turkish Cypriots registered on the electoral roll of the Republic of Cyprus or how many Turks from Turkey, “citizens” of the pseudo-state, have the right to vote in Turkey’s elections, such as the 2024 presidential elections, “it is estimated that the balance in the electoral body so far is 55-60% in favour of the Turkish Cypriots.” That is, the indigenous Turkish Cypriot vote is 55-60%, and 40-45% is the vote of foreigners, mainly Turkish and Kurdish settlers. This means that “we are facing perhaps one of the last electoral contests where the balance is slightly in favour of the indigenous population.”
Continuing, Mr. Moudouros stated that there is no electoral process in the occupied territories without Turkish intervention. Since the invasion, Turkey has historically been interested in who the political leadership will be and intervenes to influence the leadership of the political system that exists there.
Turkey, he explained, uses specific ways, methods, persons, and mechanisms if it perceives that the candidate or political position it does not want to win is threatening to its interests or not.
