NEWS/TRNC
Hüseyin Özgürgün was returned as party leader on
Saturday night after securing 56% of the vote. He beat former Finance Minister Ersin
Tatar in the second-round of the Ulusal Birlik Partisi (National Unity Party) leadership
contest, after five of the seven candidates were eliminated in the first round
of voting held the previous week.
7
candidates in 1st round of leadership contest
The two men had gone head-to-head after neither had achieved
the required 51% to win outright in the first round.
The all-male contest had seen a number of former
government ministers stand for the party’s top job: Ünal Üstel, Ersan Saner, Nazım
Çavuşoğlu, and Zorlu Töre. Oğuz Ceyda, a former President of the Turkish
Cypriot Farmers Union, also threw his hat into the ring.
During a live count held on Saturday 31 October, the
top two took over two thirds of the vote between them: Özgürgün came first with
44.3%, with Tatar on 23.4%. The next nearest candidate had been Üstel on 11.5%,
followed by: Saner (8.1%), Çavuşoğlu (6.2%),Töre (5.2%), and Ceyda (0.6%).
Two in three party members voted in the first round.
A slightly higher number turned out for the second.
Results
from the UBP leadership runoff
The final results from the second round of leadership
elections that took place at UBP’s 20th AGM on Saturday 7 November are
as follows:
Total votes cast:
6,316
Hüseyin Özgürgün:
3,540
Ersin Tatar: 2,716
Spoilt/rejected
ballots: 60
'Unity
and togetherness'
The leadership contest should help the party
reconcile after months of bickering and petty political point-scoring among the
rival candidates and their supporters.
Özgürgün and Tatar shook hands and posed for the
cameras following the announcement of the results. The UBP leader then invited
the other leadership candidates, fellow UBP MPs and local council leaders to
join them on the stage to demonstrate the party’s “unity and togetherness”.
During his victory speech, he said: “Today UBP has scored an important victory
for democracy”, referring to the party’s new internal voting system and
regulations. The 50-year-old politician pledged to do his best for this party
and country, and thanked the National Executive and party members who worked during
the two AGMs.
UBP, founded by the TRNC’s first President Rauf
Denktaş and known for its patriotic views, is the junior partner in a coalition
government with the centre-left Republican Turkish Party (CTP).
About
Huseyin Özgürgün
A graduate of political sciences from Ankara University
A popular figure within the party, he headed the group
of UBP MPs in Parliament in 2013 after party leader and former Prime Minister İrsen
Küçük failed to get re-elected in the General Elections held that year. Soon
after, Özgürgün, an MP for Lefkoşa, was re-elected as party leader.
Born in Lefkoşa, he is married and a father of two.
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