Denktas casts his vote in elections

LEFKOSA (AA) – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas cast his vote in general elections on Sunday and said, "we hope that democracy and peace will win."

Denktas and his wife Aydin Denktas cast their votes at around 10.45 local time.

When he was reminded some news stories claiming that if opposition parties won the election, he would not give those parties the authority of forming government, Denktas said that he did not say such a thing and stated that he would give the authority to those who were eligible for forming the government.

Asked whether or not his post as president of TRNC would be affected, if opposition parties came into power, Denktas said that his post would last two years more and stated that he was at his post.

Meanwhile, Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Inal Batu and Hasan Fehmi Gunes earlier came to TRNC as observers, and visited the room where Denktas cast his vote. Batu said that they visited places where there were ballot boxes since 8.00 a.m. and stated that everything was normal.

When asked whether or not there were also observers from other countries, Batu said that there were only observers from non-governmental organizations.

Four deputies from Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and two deputies from CHP are following elections in TRNC.