Polls open as Turkish Cypriots vote in local elections

By Mehmet Kemal Firik

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) – Polls opened in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as residents began voting in Sunday's local elections.

A total of 208,236 registered voters are eligible to cast their votes in 768 ballot boxes across the country.

Voters will choose 18 mayors, 220 city council members, 240 headmen and 960 council of elders, according to the country's Supreme Election Board (YSK).

Turkish Cypriots will decide on 67 candidates, six of them women, for the mayoral posts.

Voting started at 8 a.m. local time (0600GMT), with polls to close at 6 p.m. (1600GMT).

Partners in the TRNC's ruling coalition -- the National Unity Party, Democrat Party, and Rebirth Party -- are participating in the elections as a full alliance.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, with the TRNC founded in 1983, several years after Turkiye's military intervention on the island as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution, violence, and ethnic attacks.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz.