Turkish Cypriots start voting in crucial runoff election

Voters in the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus went to the polls on Sunday in a runoff election to choose a new community leader who will soon be called upon to negotiate a peace solution of the Cyprus issue -- one of the longest outstanding international issues.

The 177,00 registered voters will make a choice between incumbent 85-year old Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, a right-wing nationalist hardliner, and center-leftist politician Mustafa Akinci, who is considered to be most in favor of a solution.

Latest unofficial opinion polls show that Akinci is likely to win the vote by a 60 to 40 margin, but critics say that things might not be so easy for him.

Eroglu, who was expected to get an outright win in the first round a week ago, received only 28.2 percent of the vote and Akinci 26.9 percent.

Akinci is being supported by the leftist Republican Turkish Party which polled 22.7 percent in the first round and the leader of a civil society movement which had helped emerging politician Kudret Ozersay, a right-winger, to garner 21.5 percent.

Critics said the electoral behavior of the Ozersay supporters will be crucial for the outcome of the election. However, much will also depend on the response by voters who abstained in the first round by calls from Eroglu to rally to the polls in the runoff.

About 38 percent of registered voters shied away from the polls in the first round.

The majority of the abstainers are believed to be Eroglu's supporters, who had been disillusioned by his performance during the past five years.

Most of them are mainland Turks who settled in the homes and properties of Greek Cypriots who fled when Turkish troops occupied the northern part of the eastern Mediterranean in 1974 in reaction to a coup by Greek army officers.

Eroglu, a seasoned politician, said that he had made thousands of personal calls to voters ahead of the runoff.

The Akinci camp accuses Eroglu of having resorted to smear campaign in a desperate effort to get voter support.

They say Eroglu tried to intimidate mainland Turkish settlers that in the case of an Akinci win they will be "bundled" and sent back to their old shacks in backcountry Turkey.

He is also alleged to have been spreading rumors that Akinci is a supporter of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamism preacher residing in the United States, who is the arch-foe of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The United Nations is expected to announce a resumption of the negotiations for a Cyprus solution after the runoff following a break of six months.