Yesterday the presidential election was held in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. The constitution is available here.

The two main candidates were the incumbent president, Mehmet Ali Talat of the CTP party, and incumbent prime minister, Derviş Eroğlu of the UBP party.

CTP = Republican Turkish Party (Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi)
UBP = National Unity Party (Ulusal Birlik Partisi)

The official media network has announced the following result:

Derviş Eroğlu (UBP), 50.38%
Mehmet Ali Talat (CTP – independent), 42.85%
Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu (independent), 3.81%
Zeki Beşiktepeli (independent), 1.61%
Mustafa Kemal Tümkan (independent), 0.79%
Arif Salih Kirdag (independent), 0.43%
Ayhan Kaymak (independent), 0.14%

Given Derviş Eroğlu has won more than 50% of the vote, he is elected.

This result will end a period of cohabitation as the UBP party has 26 seats in the 50-seat parliament. The UBP won last year’s parliamentary election. (See previous post).

Eroğlu’s election is noteworthy because he is portrayed as a hardline nationalist in the Cyprus/TRNC conflict. President Talat was campaigning on a promise that he would deliver a deal with Cyprus in the conflict. However, Eroğlu apparently rejects any such deal.

Updated 6 May 2010

As noted above, the period of cohabitation ended with the election of President Eroğlu, who appointed Hüseyin Özgürgün of the UBP as prime minister on 23 April.