The newly elected leader of northern Cyprus’s main opposition party has declared that an early parliamentary vote is now unavoidable, signaling the start of a concerted campaign to topple the incumbent administration. Sila Usar Incirli, who recently made history by becoming the first woman to lead the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), asserted that her party is prepared to force early elections, capitalizing on widespread public discontent and a recent seismic shift in presidential politics.
Incirli’s pronouncement, made during a Sunday interview, follows the CTP’s significant momentum gained in October, when its former leader, Tufan Erhurman, secured a decisive victory in the presidential election. That result unseated Ersin Tatar, a figure aligned with the current ruling coalition in the parliament. Incirli now argues that this presidential mandate must be extended to the legislature, contending that the sitting government is fundamentally incapable of addressing the territory’s profound challenges.
The opposition leader painted a stark picture of the situation, describing an interlinked economic and social crisis exacerbated by a lack of governmental transparency and fairness. She contends that the ruling coalition, which dismissed a prior call for early elections last March, has lost the public’s trust and is clinging to power until the last legally permissible moment in 2027. In contrast, the CTP aims to precipitate a legislative ballot by the first half of 2026 at the latest, leveraging both parliamentary procedures and grassroots mobilization.
"The people are waiting for the CTP and we are ready. Early elections are inevitable," Incirli stated, framing the coming political battle as a response to a popular plea for rescue. She pledged that a future CTP administration would prioritize justice, meritocracy, and solidarity, a direct rebuke of her portrayal of the current governance.
Empirical data appears to bolster the CTP’s confidence. An October poll indicated that if an election were held, the CTP would command a substantial lead, potentially securing over 42% of the vote. Such an outcome would not only return the party to power for the first time since 2019 but could also grant it an unprecedented single-party majority in the assembly, a feat never achieved in the party’s five-and-a-half-decade history.
The political maneuvering sets the stage for intense confrontations, particularly during upcoming budgetary deliberations in parliament, where the CTP will seek to underscore its critique of the government’s fiscal management. Concurrently, the party plans to galvanize support from civil society groups, labor unions, and business organizations, building a coalition of dissent to pressure the ruling parties.
The implications of this push are profound. A successful bid for early elections and a subsequent CTP victory would reconfigure the domestic political landscape and potentially alter the negotiating stance of the Turkish Cypriot side in the long-stalled Cyprus reunification talks. As Incirli consolidates her historic leadership, the political climate in northern Cyprus is now defined by a singular, pressing question: not if, but when, the electorate will be called back to the polls.