Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (04.08.14) reports that the voting procedure abroad for the Presidential Elections which will be held in Turkey on 10 August was completed yesterday in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus. The turnout was lower than expected. While ninety thousand persons from Turkey had the right to vote in the occupied area of Cyprus for these elections, only eight thousand persons were registered to vote. The number of the persons who voted reached 11 thousand and 131 voters including those who voted in spite of the fact that they had not been registered.
The self-styled ambassador of Turkey to the occupied part of Nicosia, Halil Ibrahim Akca used his right to vote the day before yesterday in a lyceum in the occupied part of Nicosia. After the completion of the voting, Akca said that he had been informed by the people working during the elections about “their experiences”. He noted that the turnout in the occupied area was 12% and added that for making an evaluation as to whether this is low or high, the results in other parts of the world should be seen.
Akca said that questions exist as to whether the 92 thousand voters registered in their election list is an actual number and up to date. He noted that the “embassy” does not possess details on this number and noted that this information is in Turkey’s Higher Election Council (YSK). He said that roughly one third of this number is students, one third temporary workers and one third persons having “double citizenship”. He said that they do not know how many of the students were registered in Turkey and how many of the temporary workers are in the occupied area of Cyprus for the summer.
The ballot boxes from the occupied area of Cyprus were sent yesterday afternoon to Ankara.
