‘Peace talks failure caused decline in voter turnout’
MIGRATION of TRNC nationals and the “disappointment” lived by Turkish Cypriots in the failure of a Cyprus solution is being blamed on figures recently published which revealed a general decline in turnouts in the presidential elections.
Figures published by Cyprus Today’s sister newspaper, Kıbrıs this week, concluded that with each passing year since 1983 [TRNC foundation], the number of electioneers registered to vote has increased, whilst in contrast, the actual turnout figures showed a trend of decline.
Political scientists and diplomats have differing views as to why this is happening in the TRNC.
The figures concluded that in 1985 when the number of registered voters was 94,277, the turnout was 85.6 per cent, while in 1990 when the number of registered voters was 101,172, the turnout was reported as 93.48 per cent. Furthermore, in 1995 elections where the number of registered voters was 113,398 the turnout was reported as 85.3 per cent.
The 2000 elections that were held with 126,675 registered voters showed a drop to turnout to 81.2 per cent, while the 2005 elections held with 147,823 registered voters showed a further turnout drop with 69.58 per cent. In 2010 elections held with 164,072 registered voters, the turnout was reported to be 76.37 per cent. In 2015 elections held with 176,916 registered voters, the turnout was 62.35 per cent.
The largest number of candidates ran in 2005 presidential elections, in the aftermath of the Annan Plan referendum with nine candidates. The winner was Mehmet Ali Talat. The lowest number of candidates ran in 1990 with three contesting candidates, Denktaş being the winner.
Former negotiator Osman Ertuğ told Cyprus Today the reason for the decline could be attributed to the “length” of time of peace talks “which has taken a toll on the public”.
Mr Ertuğ said: “The Presidential election is directly related to the Cyprus issue, because the President has a role of negotiating as leader of the Turkish Cypriots. Although the community is highly politicised there is a growing trend of people who choose not to vote. I believe the failure of the Annan Plan in 2004 has had a negative impact on the beliefs of people that exercising their democratic right to elect a President ‘will not change much’.
“Of course it is also necessary to look at voting behaviours of other countries: Many
European countries have much lower turnouts then we do in the TRNC for different reasons.”
Mete Hatay, senior research consultant at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), speaking to Cyprus Today, offered a different hypothesis, saying the decline was not due to a ‘boycott’.
“The decline in voting turnout can be attributed to many factors, the main ones being the 30-year migration of Turkish Cypriots abroad, people who had acquired TRNC citizenship but who have moved back to Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots abroad who acquired citizenships and have been automatically listed.
“This is a major problem because no action has been taken by the governments to refresh the electoral roll.
“It would be necessary for a requirement to be made for every election for the electorate to acquire residency documents from their local muhtar, until the electoral roll has actually been refreshed and those not living in the TRNC for a set period of time should be removed from the list.”