Muted start to 2020 elections
THE starting gun for a muted October 11 presidential election campaign was fired on Monday when the Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) announced that it had approved all 11 candidates’ credentials.
The YSK made the announcement following an eight-day objection period after the men submitted their applications to contest the election earlier this month.
A draw was also held to decide the order candidates will appear on the ballot paper, which is as follows: Ersin Tatar (National Unity PartyUBP) Tufan Erhürman (Republican Turkis PartyCTP) Erhan Arıklı (Rebirth Party-YDP) Fuat Türköz Çiner (Nationalist Democracy Party-MDP) Arif Salih Kırdağ (Independent) Ahmet Boran (Independent) Mustafa Ulaş (Independent) Alpan Uz (Independent)
Kudret Özersay (Independent) Mustafa Akıncı (Independent) Serdar Denktaş (Independent)
This year’s presidential contest will be – at least until October 1 – without the mass rallies and village meetings normally associated with elections in North Cyprus after the government banned campaign events due to the rise in locally transmitted Covid-19 cases. The handing out of election leaflets, including sample ballot papers, has also been banned.
One of the candidates, Erhan Arıklı, announced at the weekend that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and had been placed in quarantine. The only visible sign of any electioneering on the streets of the TRNC was the appearance of political adverts on billboards and at bus stops from the main candidates.
Mr Tatar’s slogan for the election is “We are walking towards a new future” followed by his name and the words “The right decision”.
Kudret Özersay’s adverts declare that being president is “his job” with the words underlined and a message underneath stating that he would be a president who would “listen to our voice and make our voice heard to the world”.
Dr Erhürman’s slogan is “Tufan Erhürman Actually” while Serdar Denktaş has opted for a photoless ad design which features his signature and the words “Our will is ours, Serdar is all of ours”.
Incumbent Mustafa Akıncı, who wears a face mask in some of his display adverts, has gone for a series of slogans which all begin with “The answer is”, followed by words such as “democracy”, “freedom” and “trust”.
A candidate must gain more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round to win outright, otherwise the two candidates with the most votes will go through to a run-off ballot to choose the winner.
People will also be asked to vote in a referendum on October 11, which is to do with increasing the number of judges in the TRNC, something that can only be done by amending the Constitution.