Early parliamentary elections were held in

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, isl ...

on 20 February 2005, after the coalition government led by

Mehmet Ali Talat Mehmet Ali Talat (born 6 July 1952) is a Turkish Cypriot politician who served as the president of Northern Cyprus from 2005 to 2010. Talat was the leader of the social democratic Republican Turkish Party ( tr, Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi, CTP), ...

lost its majority in the House of Representatives. The vote was a resounding victory for

's CTP-United Forces alliance, although it fell just short of a majority. The UBP,

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and BDH also crossed the 5% election threshold and won seats in the House.

Electoral system

The House had 50 members, elected for a five-year term by mitigated

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. Under North Cyprus law, a party had to receive 5% of the total vote to get any seats in parliament.

Results

Aftermath

Talat became Prime Minister, leading a coalition of the CTP and DP.

June 2006 by-election

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held on 25 June 2006 to fill the positions left vacant by the death of Salih Miroğlu (UBP general secretary) and the election of Talat as president. The two parliamentary seats in contention were in

Lefkoşa Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaori ...

and

Kyrenia Kyrenia ( el, Κερύνεια ; tr, Girne ) is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. While there is evidence showing that the wider region ...

. This by-election was held together with municipal elections, and the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

reported that both "were generally free and fair". Of the two vacant seats, one was held by the National Unity Party, the other by the CTP. The two elected candidates were Gülboy Beydağlı and Özkan Yorgancıoğlu, both of which belong to the CTP. The latter thus increased its representation in the Assembly from 24 to 25 seats. The ruling coalition of the CTP and DP had difficulty forming a government after this by-election. When three deputies (two from the National Unity Party and one from the Democratic Party) resigned to form the new, progovernment

Freedom and Reform Party The Freedom and Reform Party ( tr, Özgürlük ve Reform Partisi, ÖRP) was a liberal political party in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The party was formed in 2006 by four former MP's from the National Unity Party (UBP) and the Democr ...

in September, the coalition collapsed and

Serdar Denktaş Serdar Denktaş is son of Rauf Denktaş, the former President of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. He was the Minister of Finance of Northern Cyprus from April 2016 to May 2019. His previous portfolios include Labour, Settlement ...

quit the government. The CTP then formed a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

with the newly formed Freedom and Reform Party, in which it was the biggest partner, holding seven ministries.

References

{{Northern Cyprus elections

Elections in Northern Cyprus 2005 in Northern Cyprus 2000s in Cypriot politics February 2005 events in Europe