Denktash suggests presidential system

Denktas said the parliamentarian system was creating problems from which the KKTC was suffering. He did not elaborate. "I will not stand as a candidate. We should pass onto a presidential system," he was quoted as saying by the agency.

Denktas said the practices of the presidential system elsewhere demonstrated the system was effective. "Let’s not cheat ourselves by playing with a parliamentarian system as if it is democracy and as if the presidential system is not democracy," he added.

Denktas has been the president of the KKTC since it was founded in 1984. Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat had earlier said he could run for presidency in the next election which is expected to take place in April. Only Turkey recognizes the KKTC.