Tufan Erhürman, leader of the pro-reunification Republican Turkish Party, has won the Turkish Cypriot presidential election in a landslide on Sunday, decisively defeating the Ankara-backed incumbent Ersin Tatar.
With all ballots counted, election officials reported that Tufan Erhürman secured 62.76% of the vote, compared to 35.81% for Mr. Tatar.
Other candidates polled below 1%.
Voter turnout was 64.87% in the territory, which is recognized internationally only by Turkey. Mr. Erhürman addressed celebrating supporters in northern Nicosia.
“Our people must know this: This election has no losers," he said.
"As the Turkish Cypriot people, we all won together. We said that we would proceed together, win together, and govern together. We have kept our first two promises.
We will keep our third promise together as well.”