Leftist candidate Mustafa Akinci yesterday won the second round of the Northern Cypriot presidential election, by a 20-point wide marginahead of current president, conservative Dervis Eroglu. Akinci, who enjoyed support from the Communal Democracy Party (TDP, social democrats and socialists), won 60.5% of the vote, while Eroglu was left with 39.5%.

In the first round, held a week before, Eroglu was the most voted candidate, with 28.1% of the ballots, followed by Akinci, with 26.9%, Social Democrat candidate Sibel Siber obtained 22.5% of the votes, while conservative Kurdet Özersay stood at 21.2%. Yesterday's result suggests that many Siber voters -her party called to support Akinci in the second round- and some Özersay voters yesterday voted for Akinci.

A supporter of unified, federal Cyprus

Akinci has pledged to resume as soon as possible peace talks to find a solution to Cyprus's frozen conflict. The newly elected Turkish Cypriot president favours reunification of the island under a federal, bicommunal structure, with two constituent states. The deal would allow Northern Cyprus to join the EU and Turkish Cypriots could overcome political and economic blockade they are suffering, since the republic is recognized only by their occupying military power -and to some, their protector- Turkey.

During his time as Turkish Cypriot Nicosia Mayor (1976-1990), Akinci led joint initiatives together with Greek Cypriot Nicosia Mayor to bring the two halves of the Cypriot capital closer and to carry out common urban projects.

Greek Cypriot Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades yesterday said Akinci's election is "a hopeful development for our common homeland." Anastasiades shares with Akinci the goal of a unified, federal Cyprus.

Eroglu's stance closer to Turkey

While he was the Turkish Cypriot president, Eroglu also signed agreements with the Greek Cypriots in order to reach a federal Cyprus. But Eroglu's stance was always less inclined to a comprehensive deal with the Greek Cypriots than Akinci's. On the one side, Eroglu's stance was closer to Turkey's interests and to Anatolian Turks having settled in Cyprus in recent decades. On the other, Eroglu envisaged reunified Cyprus as a very loose union of two states.

Conversely, Akinci holds a more distant stance as regards Turkey, as he aims to forge a "new kind of relationship [...] based on mutual respect [...] to the advantage of both sides." This breaks the Turkish Cypriot conservatives' rhetoric whereby Turkey is the motherland and Northern Cyprus is Turkey's offspring.

Related to this, the new Turkish Cypriot president seeks to ensure that centuries-old Turkish Cypriot community has more weight in the Northern Cypriot self-government institutions, with increased independent vis-a-vis Ankara. Akinci has in the past denounced Turkey's interference on Northern Cypriot affairs, and in this respect he believes greater unity between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots would prove beneficial for both Cypriot communities, allowing the whole of island to maintain a joint policy that reinforces its independence. Perhaps this is the key to Akinci's victory: as Yusuf Kanli put it on Hürriyet, "most Turkish Cypriots have been fed up with Turkey's growing arrogance towards northern Cyprus as well as being left out in the cold by the international community despite they overwhelmingly voted for a UN plan [for reunification] in 2004."

Further information:

• Nationalia: Northern Cyprus goes to polls as the prospect of resuming peace talks gets new momentum

(Image: Mustafa Akinci / photo by Mehmet.)