Turkish Cypriot politician Hasan Tacoy on Tuesday cried foul over the processes of voter registration for the leadership election taking place within his party and the north’s largest party the UBP.

Tacoy is challenging current party leader and ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel for the party’s leadership, with the election set to take place at the party’s forthcoming conference on September 21.

The UBP entered its “conference period” on July 22, with elections within local party branches and within affiliated women’s movements and youth movements having already begun.

Ordinarily, voting is open only to those who had been members of the party for at least 180 days before July 22, but Tacoy has raised doubts over whether this rule is being applied.

“It has been claimed that problems have been occurring,” he said. He added that he is “not in a position” to take the party to court, though the fact he opened the subject of court proceedings may suggest the possibility is not out of the question.

He then said, “the party’s decision-making mechanisms should come together, produce a solution, and the voter roll should be presented to everyone.

“It is not good practice to have different lists going to district party branches every day. It will end up with us all in court and the UBP’s understanding of democracy will be taken very different places,” he said.

He added, “they should not make the UBP crawl around the corridors of court buildings. They should do whatever party statutes and the relevant laws dictate.”

“We are not in a position to grab anyone’s arm, twist it, and say ‘don’t run for office’ … Whether it is for the party’s leadership, for the party’s congress, or in the districts, anyone who wants to take office can come and apply so long as they complete the legal processes,” he said.

He added, “where there is democracy, there will be no problems, everything will go peacefully. With this belief, I am in contact with all my friends. I never run away from them, and I see them all the time.”

Meanwhile, Unal Ustel said on Tuesday that he had “taken great care” to ensure that public services “were not disrupted” while the largest of the north’s three-party ruling coalition undergoes internal elections.

“We have the knowledge and the skills to fulfil our duties in terms of the continuity of public services,” he said, adding that “public services are mainly provided by bureaucrats.”

“Disruptions or deficiencies stem from inadequacies which have lasted for many years, and we are trying to close this gap with the reforms we have initiated and are determined to continue,” he said.

However, opposition party CTP leader Tufan Erhurman was less than convinced, asking on Tuesday afternoon, especially in light of a spate of power cuts which have hit the north in recent days and weeks. The northern half of Nicosia’s old town was plunged into darkness on Tuesday evening, despite promises that the problem had been solved.

“I don’t care who is a candidate. Will the country have to wait for the party conference to be over before the supply of electricity is solved?” he asked.

He added, “the UBP has been in power for five years. The existing power plant [at Teknecik near Kyrenia] has been broken for four years. Five years have passed and not a single generator has been purchased. Since fuel is not supplied on time, bad quality fuel is damaging both the environment and the machines.”

“I am not concerned by stability inside the UBP, what concerns me is the government. They have brought [the north’s electricity authority] Kib-Tek to a much worse situation than that in which it was.”