Turkish Cypriots vote to elect new leader

Turkish Cypriots went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new community leader in a vote closely watched by the United Nations for clues of a breakthrough in the long-stalled negotiations for a solution to the Cyprus problem.

Incumbent community leader Dervis Eroglu, a right-wing nationalist hardliner, is being challenged by two moderate politicians.

They are Moustafa Akinci, an independent candidate who is supported by small center and right-wing parties and factions, and Sibel Siber, a wealthy businesswoman from the left-wing Republican Turkish Party.

They both favor a solution reunifying the island under a federal umbrella that would bring their secluded enclave into the European Union.

Latest opinion polls show Eroglu losing ground to a former negotiator of the Turkish Cypriot community, Kudret Ozersay, a right-wing university professor.

He has no chance of being elected, but electoral pundits say that if the trend shown in opinion is confirmed at the polling stations, Eroglu may even be excluded from a run-off election on April 26.

About 177,000 voters have a choice among seven candidates but the bulk of the votes are expected to be almost equally split between Eroglu, Akinci and Siber.

First official results are expected three hours after the closing of the polling stations at 6 p.m. local time (1500 GMT).

The United Nations, which is brokering a settlement reunifying Cyprus, is expected to announce soon a resumption of the Cyprus negotiations after a break of six months.

Turkey occupied about 37 percent of Cyprus' territory in 1974 in reaction to a short-lived coup by Greek army officers and declared a breakaway state in an enclave exclusively populated by Turkish Cypriots and mainland Turkey settlers.

The breakaway state has been condemned by the United Nations in numerous Security Council resolutions and is recognized only by Turkey, which keeps about 40,000 troops on the island.