UBP election ‘humiliating’

PEOPLE’S Party (HP) leader Kudret Özersay (pictured) has described the appointment of Ünal Üstel as the new leader of the National Unity Party (UBP) as “humiliating”.

“Unfortunately, the appointment of the prime minister, the formation of the cabinet and such a change in the UBP chairmanship are humiliating for both the Turkish Cypriot people and the UBP members,” he said in a statement.

“Nobody deserves this, including the UBP. If the will reflected in the ballot boxes . . . and within the political parties is ignored, the elections, politics, democracy and the state begin to lose their meaning, as well as their credibility, in the eyes of the people.”

Dr Özersay, who earlier this year quit as an MP in protest at the way the TRNC is being run, said that while he “wanted to be wrong” the “unnaturally formed” government will bring “instability and be short-lived like the others”.

Referring to the unopposed election of Ersan Saner as UBP leader in December 2020, Dr Özersay commented: “The UBP held assemblies just for show in the past, how long did the government under the chairmanship of Ersan Saner last?

“How much stability did it bring to the country? What service did he do to the country? Unfortunately, it was a complete fiasco. There is no need to be a scholar to see where we are headed. Our recent political past shows very clearly what we will experience in the near future.”