Arıklı: Preferential Voting Highlights Individuals, Not Parties

In a post on social media, Arıklı noted that efforts to remove the preferential vote have accelerated in recent days. Emphasising YDP’s principled opposition to the system, he argued that preferential voting promotes individual candidates over political parties and their ideologies. “In democratic parliamentary systems, it is not individuals but parties — their statutes, programmes, and projects — that should be highlighted,” he said.

He also pointed out that the system compels candidates to act against both their own parties and their colleagues from the outset, ultimately reducing the number of parliamentary seats the party can win.

Arıklı recalled YDP’s 2019 legislative proposal, which included the following key changes:

• Abolition of the preferential voting system

• Division of the TRNC into three electoral districts: Famagusta, Kyrenia, and Nicosia

• Raising the electoral threshold to either 7% or 10%

• Allowing political parties to form alliances and contest elections together

He noted that the 2019 proposal is now defunct, and current discussions focus solely on abolishing the preferential vote. However, YDP has revised the original proposal and resubmitted it to coalition partners. According to Arıklı, the Democratic Party (DP) has endorsed the proposal, while UBP Secretary-General Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu will bring the issue to his party’s agenda upon returning from Brussels.

Stressing that eliminating preferential voting alone is neither adequate nor correct, Arıklı said the position of the coalition’s senior partner, the National Unity Party (UBP), will be decisive. He also underscored the importance of incorporating the concerns raised by the High Electoral Council (YSK) in any amendments to the Election Law.