TRNC Assembly abolishes mixed voting ahead of 6 December elections

At an extraordinary session on 10 September, the TRNC Assembly adopted an amendment to the law on elections and referendums and abolished mixed voting—the option of distributing votes among candidates from different parties on a single ballot. Intra-party preference voting remains in place.

For voters, this means that they can still vote for one party’s list and mark specific candidates within it, but can no longer mix candidates from different lists. The single-constituency system remains unchanged.

The amendment to the law on elections and referendums passed by a majority vote. The Republican Turkish Party (CTP) voted against it, citing procedural violations. The party’s Secretary-General Sıla Usar İncirli said: “Even the right steps, when taken through the wrong procedure, lose their legitimacy.” MP Asım Akansoy accused the ruling National Unity Party (UBP) of failing to reach an internal consensus, while other CTP MPs criticised the timing: the system is being changed three months before the elections.

Supporters of the abolition pointed out that mixed voting opened the door to manipulation and led to a large number of invalid ballots, while the recommendation to abandon it had already been issued by the Supreme Electoral Council in 2023.

Under the new rules, Turkish Cypriots will vote for the first time in the general elections on 6 December 2026; on the same day, the TRNC Assembly also scheduled the local elections.