Northern Cyprus parliamentary election, 2005

Early parliamentary elections were held in the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on 20 February 2005, after the coalition government led by Mehmet Ali Talat lost its majority in the House of Representatives. The vote was a resounding victory for Mehmet Ali Talat's CTP-United Forces alliance, although it fell just short of a majority. The UBP, Democratic Party and BDH also crossed the 5% election threshold and won seats in the House.

Electoral system

The House had 50 members, elected for a five-year term by mitigated proportional representation. Under North Cyprus law, a party had to receive 5% of the total vote) to get any seats in parliament.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Republican Turkish Party	577,444	44.5	24	+5
National Unity Party	410,813	31.7	19	+1
Democratic Party	174,721	13.5	6	–1
Peace and Democracy Movement	75,747	5.8	1	–5
Communal Liberation Party	55,284	2.4	0	–
New Party		1.6	0	New
Nationalist Justice Party		0.5	0	New
Total	1,294,009	100	50	0
Valid votes	115,823	95.1
Invalid votes	5,917	4.9
Total	118,912	100
Registered voters/turnout	147,249	80.7
Source: Adam Carr, PRIO

Aftermath

Talat became prime minister, leading a coalition of the CTP and DP.

June 2006 by-election

A by-election was held on 25 June 2006 to fill the positions left vacant by the death of Salih Miroğlu (UBP general secretary) and the election of Talat as president. The two parliamentary seats in contention were in Lefkoşa and Kyrenia.^[1] This by-election was held together with municipal elections, and the United States Department of State reported that both "were generally free and fair".^[2] Of the two vacant seats, one was held by the National Unity Party, the other by the RTP. The two elected candidates were Gülboy Beydağlı and Özkan Yorgancıoğlu, both of which belong to the RTP.^[3] The latter thus increased its representation in the Assembly from 24 to 25 seats. The ruling coalition of the RTP and DP had difficulty forming a government after this by-election. When three deputies (two from the National Unity Party and one from the Democratic Party) resigned to form the new, progovernment Freedom and Reform Party in September, the coalition collapsed and Serdar Denktaş quit the government.^[4] The RTP then formed a coalition government with the newly formed Freedom and Reform Party, in which it was the biggest partner, holding seven ministries.^[5]

References

1. "Results out for TRNC local elections". Cypnet. 2006-07-07. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
2. "Cyprus". 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
3. "List of deputies" (in Turkish). Official Website of the Assembly of the Republic. Archived from the original on 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
4. "Northern (Turkish) Cyprus". Freedom in the World. Freedom House. 2007-04-16. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
5. "Political situation in the occupied areas". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus. August 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-22.