Zaman, Turkey
May 21 2006

Greek Cypriots Choose Their New Deputies
By Foreign News Desk
Published: Saturday, May 20, 2006
zaman.com

Critical parliamentary elections will be held tomorrow in Greek
Cyprus; 495 candidates including a Turk will compete for 56 seats in
the parliament.

Many female candidates are joining this year’s elections, in which
Turks residing in Southern Cyprus can cast votes. One of these is
Nese Yasin, a Turkish Cypriot. Yasin will try her chances to enter
the Greek Cypriot parliament as a candidate of the United Democrats
Movement (EDI). Yasin’s party; however, is not expected to win a
single seat according to polls. Religious groups and independent
candidates have also entered the competition, in which 11 political
parties and blocs are taking part. The deputies to be obtained by
Maronit, Armenian and Latin groups will not have the right to vote in
the parliament, but will mediate and communicate the problems of
religious groups to the parliament. Preliminary results from the
elections will be obtained towards midnight. 500,606 registered
voters including 266 Turks will cast their vote at 216 centers.