Greek Cypriots indifferent to outcome of vote in north

Question if Mehmet Ali Talat can remain dominant across the divide

A Turkish-Cypriot man rips an election poster bearing the pictures of ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat’s center-left Republican Turkish Party (CTP) candidates in Nicosia, the last divided capital of the European Union, yesterday.

NICOSIA (AFP) - Greek Cypriots are showing little interest in tomorrow’s vote to elect a government in the breakaway Turkish-Cypriot state in the north of the Mediterranean island, but view presidential elections there in April as more significant.

For most Greek Cypriots, tomorrow’s election is generating indifference at best, and the runup to the event in the north has made little news in the south. Moreover, the outcome of tomorrow’s vote is unlikely to change the stalemate in efforts to end the island’s decades-long division.

“I don’t even think the average person in the street knows there is an election happening this weekend,” said journalist Menelaos Hadjicostis, one of a handful in the Greek-Cypriot press tracking the Turkish-Cypriot polls.

“Not much attention is paid to this election as most Greek Cypriots believe that Ankara pulls the strings whoever comes to power... but the presidentials are seen as more important,” he added. Officially, Nicosia considers the parliamentary elections “illegal” — as the Parliament in the Greek-Cypriot south enjoys sole international recognition — and expressed no preference regarding the outcome.

However, there is some interest as to whether Turkish-Cypriot “prime minister” Mehmet Ali Talat’s center-left Republican Turkish Party (CTP) will remain the dominant political force across the divide.

Talat is expected to stand in the presidential election and replace hardline veteran Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, long the nemesis of Greek Cypriots. The Turkish-Cypriot leader represents his community at UN peace negotiations.

Diplomats believe any fresh initiative to draw the island’s communities back to the negotiating table may only start in earnest after April.

The breakaway state was forced to call early elections after the ruling coalition lost its slim majority in May.

Opinion polls predict tomorrow’s elections will produce a fragmented result, as with the last general elections in December 2003, fanning uncertainty in the isolated statelet.

Political stability in the occupied north is seen as crucial for any new reunification efforts, which faltered when a UN blueprint was rejected by Greek Cypriots despite strong backing by the Turkish Cypriots last April.