Democratic Party (Northern Cyprus)

"Demokrat Partisi" redirects here. For other uses, see Demokrat Parti (disambiguation).
Democratic Party
Demokrat Parti
LeaderFikri Ataoğlu [tr]
Founded30 July 1992
Split fromNational Unity Party
HeadquartersNorth Nicosia, Northern Cyprus
IdeologyConservatism[1]
Turkish Cypriot nationalism
Two-state solution
Political positionCentre-right[2]
ColorsRed, White, Green
Parliament
3 / 50
Municipalities
1 / 18
Website
kktcdemokratparti.org

The Democratic Party (Turkish: Demokrat Parti, DP) is a conservative[1] political party in Northern Cyprus. The leader of the party is Fikri Ataoğlu.

Overview

The Democratic Party was founded as a breakaway from the ruling right-wing National Unity Party (UBP) in 1992. The party merged in 1993 with the New Dawn Party (YDP), a party representing the interests of the Turkish settlers in Northern Cyprus, and consistently had high levels of support in the settler population until the 2003 election. Rauf Denktaş had considerable influence on the party.[3]

At the legislative elections for the Assembly of the Republic on 20 January 2005, the party won 13.5% of the popular vote and 6 out of 50 seats. Its candidate, Mustafa Arabacıoğlu, won 13.3% of the votes in the Northern Cyprus presidential elections on 17 April 2005. At the legislative elections on 19 April 2009 the DP won 5 out of 50 seats and 10.7% of the popular vote.

In 2013, 8 members of the parliament resigned from the National Unity Party (UBP) and joined the Democratic Party. The party subsequently renamed itself Democratic Party — National Forces.[4] At the legislative elections in 2013, the DP greatly increased its share of the votes and won 12 out of 50 seats and 23.2% of the popular vote. The party then subsequently went on to become the junior partner of the coalition government under the Republican Turkish Party (CTP).[5] However, in 2014, four members of the parliament resigned from the party[6] and three of them joined the National Unity Party.[7] In July 2015, the party became the main opposition party, against the CTP-UBP coalition.[8] It joined the government as the junior partner once again, this time with the UBP, in April 2016.[9]

Leaders of the Democratic Party

Election results

Assembly of the Republic
Election Votes Seats Role
# % Rank # ±
1993 — 29.2 2nd new DP–CTP coalition
1998 246,602 22.6 4th Decrease 3 UBP–DP coalition
2003 172,473 12.9 3rd Decrease 6 CTP–DP coalition
2005 174,721 13.5 3rd Decrease 1 CTP–DP coalition
2009 150,695 10.7 3rd Decrease 1 in opposition
2013 288,021 23.2 3rd Increase 7 CTP–DP coalition
2018 420,102 7.8 5th Decrease 9 CTP–HP–TDP–DP coalition
2022 369,239 7.4 3rd Steady 0 UBP–DP-YDP coalition

References

  1. ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Northern Cyprus". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 2017-12-21. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
  2. ^ Andrekos Varnava; Christalla Yakinthou (2011). Cyprus: Political Modernity and the Structures of Democracy in a Divided Island. Oxford University Press. p. 469. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Hatay, Mete (2005), Beyond Numbers: An Inquiry into the Political Integration of the Turkish 'Settlers' in Northern Cyprus (PDF), PRIO Cyprus Center, archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016, retrieved 29 December 2016
  4. ^ "DP Ulusal Güçler siyaset sahnesinde" (in Turkish). Yeni Düzen. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Başbakan Erdoğan ile görüşmek istiyor" (in Turkish). Milliyet. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  6. ^ "DP-UG'de istifa şoku" (in Turkish). Kıbrıs. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  7. ^ "DPUG'den istifa eden 3 vekil UBP'ye katıldı!" (in Turkish). Kıbrıs Postası. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  8. ^ "Ve kabine açıklandı" (in Turkish). Star Kıbrıs. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  9. ^ "Yeni Kabine açıklandı!" (in Turkish). HABERKKTC. Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2016.