Cyprus poll ends in deadlock
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Officials said 85 percent of the enclave's 141,000 voters took part in Sunday's election.
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NICOSIA, Cyprus (Reuters) -- A landmark Turkish Cypriot election that could seal the fate of the divided island of Cyprus has ended in a dead heat, with two rival blocs landing 25 parliamentary seats each, preliminary results showed.
The poll, officially recognized only by Turkey, has been widely billed as a referendum on veteran leader Rauf Denktash's rejection of a U.N. plan to reunify Greek and Turkish Cypriots living divided on the island for almost three decades.
It is also likely to have far-reaching implications for Turkey's bid to join the European Union. The EU will admit the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government next May, with or without a settlement, and Ankara is under heavy pressure from Brussels to push the Turkish Cypriots towards a deal.
The pro-reunification, pro-EU Republican Turkish Party (CTP) emerged as the largest single party with 19 seats in the 50-seat assembly, while the ruling National Unity Party (UBP) which opposes the U.N. peace plan, came in second with 18 seats.
Another party allied with the CTP won six seats while the party in coalition government with the UBP netted seven, leaving the two blocs evenly balanced.
CTP leader Mehmet Ali Talat ruled out a coalition with the pro-Denktash parties. "(That is) almost completely impossible," he told Reuters.
The pro-settlement parties won 48 percent of votes cast, against 46 percent for those supporting Denktash, but a complex electoral system denied them a majority in the assembly.
Turkey's Anatolian news agency quoted Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu as saying new elections might have to be called in three months if no stable government could be formed.
Anatolian quoted the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, as saying in a statement late on Sunday that preliminary poll results proved Turkish Cypriots wanted a peace settlement based on the U.N. blueprint.
Talks on the U.N. plan, which proposes a loose federal state with broad autonomy for the two communities, collapsed in March.
The EU has told Turkey that failure of the reunification talks could imperil its own hopes of starting entry talks with the wealthy bloc in early 2005.
Officials said 85 percent of the enclave's 141,000 voters took part in Sunday's election.
Denktash and his allies say a single Cypriot state would inevitably be dominated by the much more numerous Greek Cypriots and would erode Turkish Cypriot rights. Many settlers from Turkey fear they will be thrown out of Cyprus if it is reunited.
"We have to preserve our state and our flag," said Murat Hasanoglu, 22, who moved to the staunchly pro-Denktash village of Bahceli from Turkey's Black Sea coast.
But many voters said they were tired of isolation and hungry for the economic opportunities presented by the EU.
"We hope for a result which will favor a solution," hotel manager Ahmed Savac, 39, told Reuters during a day-visit to the Greek Cypriot part of the island. Earlier this year, Denktash lifted restrictions on Turkish Cypriots' freedom of movement.
Denktash's own position as president of the enclave, which has survived international sanctions because of an economic lifeline and military backing from Turkey, was not up for grabs.
But the anti-Denktash parties say they want to replace him as negotiator and push urgently for a settlement.
The eastern Mediterranean island has been split along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkey invaded it after a Greek Cypriot coup backed by the junta then ruling Greece.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
