UPDATE - Turkish Cypriots vote in snap elections

ADDS REMARKS OF TRNC PRESIDENT, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, OTHERS

By Zuhal Demirci and Murat Demirci

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - Voters in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) went to the polls on Sunday to choose their parliamentary deputies.

The voting started at 08.00 am local time (0500GMT) and will continue till 06.00 pm local time (1500GMT).

TRNC President Mustafa Akinci cast his vote in the capital Lefkosa.

“I would like to say that we will fulfill what is necessary for establishing a new government,” Akinci told reporters.

TRNC Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Serdar Denktas urged people to go to the ballot box after he cast his vote in the capital.

“Casting your vote is among the most important rights for citizens," he said.

Speaker of the TRNC Assembly Sibel Siber termed the elections as “a test for democracy".

“My desire is for a government to be established which will contribute to the Cyprus issue,” former TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat told reporters in Girne.

Votes will be cast in 719 ballot boxes across the country, in the 14th election since 1976.

Three-hundred-and-seventy-nine candidates from eight parties and nine independent candidates are competing for 50 seats in the parliament.

The eight parties running in the election are the National Unity Party (UBP), the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), the Communal Democracy Party (TDP), the Democrat Party (DP), the Peoples' Party (HP), the Communal Liberation Party-New Forces (TKP-YG), the Nationalist Democracy Party (MDP) and the Renaissance Party (YDP).

An election threshold of five percent is in effect in the country where there are 190,551 electorates.

Lefkosa is represented by 16 deputies -- the highest number. Gazimagusa is represented by 13 deputies, Girne by 10, Iskele by five, Guzelyurt by four and Lefke by two deputies.

Counting of votes will begin at 6.00 pm local time (1500GMT). No television channel is allowed to broadcast results till 7.00 pm local time (1600GMT).

Since the last general elections held in Jan. 2013, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has experienced three coalition governments led by three different prime ministers.

The current UBP-DP coalition government is headed by Prime Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun.

In November, by a vote of 38-2, the parliament passed a motion calling early elections. Under the motion, general elections originally planned for July 2018 were moved up seven months to Jan. 7.