Elections in Northern Cyprus
Open-knowledge reference entry
Elections in Northern Cyprus are organized to elect governments, presidents and representatives of local administrative bodies in Northern Cyprus, known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Electoral system
The presidency, which is served in five-year terms, was instituted with TRNC's first presidential election in 1985 and continued with the elections of 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and with the next election scheduled for 2030. The legislature, Cumhuriyet Meclisi (Assembly of the Republic of Northern Cyprus), has 50 members, elected for a five-year term by mitigated proportional representation. The territory has a multi-party system, with two or three strong parties and another party which is also electorally successful.
In the presidential election, a candidate must obtain at least 50% of the votes in order to secure a first-ballot victory. Upon failing to do so, the two top candidates compete in a runoff election, with the winner assuming the presidency.
The mitigated proportional representation system in use for legislative elections obligates each party to cross the 5% of the total vote election threshold in order to be seated in the 50-member parliament, which is chosen from five districts: Lefkoşa, Gazimağusa, Girne, Güzelyurt, İskele and Lefke.
In the parliamentary elections, voters choose individual candidates with two options in the manner of voting: a party-line vote which, in effect, means a vote for each candidate from that party in that election district or, alternatively, the voter may choose different MP candidates from various parties. In this type of mixed voting, the voter may not choose more than the number of MPs from that district.
Residents of Northern Cyprus are eligible to stand for election and vote in the national elections of the Republic of Cyprus, but not able to run for presidency (the Constitution states that a Turkish-Cypriot should be vice-president of the Republic).
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