Parliamentary elections were held in

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, island of Cyprus. It is List of states with limited recognition, recognis ...

on 28 July 2013, a year earlier than necessary. The

Republican Turkish Party The Republican Turkish Party (, CTP; ) is a social-democratic political party in Northern Cyprus. The party was founded in 1970 by Ahmet Mithat Berberoğlu, a lawyer, in opposition to the leadership of Fazıl Küçük and Rauf Denktaş. On 30 ...

emerged as the largest in the Assembly of the Republic, winning 21 of the 50 seats.

Background

The government of Prime Minister

İrsen Küçük İrsen Küçük (1940 – 10 March 2019) was a Turkish Cypriot politician who was Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus from 2010 to 2013. He was the nephew of the Republic of Cyprus's first vice-president, Fazıl Küçük. Early life and educatio ...

collapsed in May 2013 after eight MPs left his

National Unity Party The National Unity Party, National United Party, Party of National Unity or National Unity Front may refer to: * National United Party of Afghanistan (founded 2003) * National Unity Party (Albania) * National United Party (Armenia), defunct * Natio ...

and the government lost a vote of no confidence. On 23 June

Sibel Siber Sibel Siber (born 13 December 1960) is a Turkish Cypriot politician. She served as the Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus between 13 June 2013, following the fall of the government of İrsen Küçük in a vote of no confidence, and 2 September 20 ...

became interim prime minister, forming a government consisting of the

, the Democratic Party and the

Communal Democracy Party The Communal Democracy Party (, TDP) is a social-democratic political party in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The party came into being in May 2007 as a merger of the Peace and Democracy Movement with the Communal Liberation Party. At th ...

. The new government was approved by a vote of 26–11 in the Assembly.

Electoral system

The fifty members of the Assembly were elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

in five multi-member constituencies with an

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ...

of 5%. Voters could either vote for a party list or for individual candidates. If they chose the latter, they could cast as many votes as there were seats in a constituency.

Campaign

Five parties with 250 candidates registered to contest the election, as well as seven independents. Though election campaigns in Northern Cypriot elections are usually related to the

Cyprus dispute The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus conflict, Cyprus issue, Cyprus dispute, or Cyprus question, is an ongoing dispute between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot community in the north of the island of Cyprus, where troops of t ...

, this main focus of the 2013 elections concerns about the National Unity Party's Turkish-backed economic programmes and

austerity In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...

.Austerity not territory defines N Cyprus poll
Al Jazeera, 11 August 2013

Results

References

Elections in Northern Cyprus 2013 in Northern Cyprus 2010s in Cypriot politics July 2013 in Europe {{Cyprus-election-stub