Government and Opposition Unhappy in Cyprus

The Republican Turkish Party-United Forces (CTP/BG), which became the first party to attain 35 percent of the votes but failed to secure a sufficient majority in parliament, postponed their planned celebrations for last night.

After the election results were announced late at night, President Denktas went to the party headquarters to meet with the CTP-BG leaders but party leader Talat left just before Denktas arrived and the meeting was not able to take place.

There are mixed feelings within the ruling National Union Party (NUP). The NUP finished the elections in second place with 32 percent of the votes. Party loyalists cheered their party on until late last night when the election results were announced.

The government’s coalition partner, the Democrat Party (DP), attained fourth place in the polls and their party’s leader Serdar Denktas, with his reconciliation message, confused opposition parties.

The DP leader also stated that they had made no announcements during the elections that they would form a coalition with the CTP and the BDH, and there was no such decision at this time.

In a press conference held at the presidential residence Monday morning, TRNC president Rauf Denktas announced that he would instruct the UBP, which currently has the majority of votes, to form a government.

As a reason for his decision, Denktas stated that each side had 25 deputies and he wanted four-way negotiations, which would include Turkey, Greece, Greek Cyprus, and the TRNC, in order to find a solution to the Cyprus issue.

"The two states on the island need to agree to form a confederation. This is better than a federation. Negotiations will certainly begin on this point," said Denktas.

Evaluating the results, the Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul requested that everyone act constructively.

"We need to work together with president Denktas and all sides must cooperate," said Gul, and he added that Turkey would make the final decision concerning the Cyprus issue.