The Turkish Cypriot community’s largest political party the UBP on Monday announced that it had rejected every single one of the 17 appeals filed against the provisional results of the primary elections it held on Saturday to determine who will be on its list during December’s Turkish Cypriot legislative elections.
The decision means a likely end to the political careers of ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler, who was not selected as a candidate in his home constituency of Morphou, and fellow incumbent members of the legislature Emrah Yesilirmak and Firtina Karanfil, who were not selected in their home constituencies of Trikomo and Lefka respectively.
Additionally, a fourth sitting UBP member of the legislature, Hakan Dincyurek, had already announced in the early hours of Sunday morning that he would, as a result of his belief that Saturday’s results were fraudulent, not stand for re-election. He also resigned from the post of ‘health minister’.
The announcement came with party leader and ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel in Turkey, where he spent the entire day, holding meetings with Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and Defence Minister Yasar Guler.
Ustel is yet to make public comment over the allegations that the votes were counted fraudulently, with his office saying on Monday that he had discussed the Turkish Cypriot authorities’ next financial protocol with Turkey with Yilmaz, and the Cyprus problem with Fidan.
Likewise, the UBP’s primary election council chairman Huseyin Pasa was also unavailable for comment after he was hospitalised complaining of chest pains on Monday morning.
Ozturkler promises to respect result, Nurel calls for arrest of Savasan
Ozturkler, however, did comment on the affair on Monday, saying ahead of the decision that “while I maintain my objection, I wish to state that I will respect whichever final decision is reached, as I have full faith and confidence in the grassroots of our UBP”.
However, other candidates were less forgiving, with Redif Nurel, who had hoped to be on the party’s list in Kyrenia, saying that “Pasa was trying to go to hospital despite doctors telling him he was fine”.
“There are about 3,000 missing votes in het ballot boxes here. Around 3,000 fake digital votes were cast in the names of members who did not come here. Ahmet Savasan is responsible for this system. He needs to be arrested,” he said of his party’s secretary-general.
TDP files complaint to supreme election council
Opposition party the TDP also was also unconvinced, with party secretary-general Redif Ekinci and Nicosia candidate Deniz Birinci filing a formal complaint to the Turkish Cypriot supreme election council over the matter.
Ekinci said that while “in principle, a primary election is a political party’s internal matter”, “the issue at hand concerns how the party currently governing the country determines the candidates it will field for the general election”.
“A list submitted to the supreme election council without ballot boxes being opened and counted in full public view is, from the very outset, a tainted list. Competing against opponents who are alleged to have been submitted through fraudulent means is a matter which directly concerns every other party participating in this election, as well as every single voter,” he said.
As such, he called for a full recount of the vote in the presence of members of the Turkish Cypriot bar association, as well as a full investigation to be launched by the supreme election council into allegations of fraud and bribery, while also suspending its acceptance of the UBP’s list until that investigation has been concluded.