Turkish Cypriot Yialousa and Rizokarpaso mayor Hamit Bakirci was on Monday declared the duly elected mayor for another four-year term after no candidate stood against him, winning a second term in office.

Bakirci’s campaign was endorsed by the largest Turkish Cypriot political party, the UBP, and had initially been elected to the role in 2022 when the formerly separate municipalities of Yialousa and Rizokarpaso were amalgamated as part of local government reforms;

Prior to his stint as mayor, he had previously been a member of the Turkish Cypriot legislature between 2013 and 2018, having been elected on the ticket of the DP, which is now the ruling coalition’s junior partner.

During his time in the legislature, he served both as ‘education minister’ and as ‘environment minister’ under ‘prime minister’ of the day Ozkan Yorgancioglu.

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This year’s Turkish Cypriot local elections are set to take place on December 6, but with all the candidacies for the various local government roles up for election now having been ratified, the Turkish Cypriot supreme election council on Monday released the list of those, including Bakirci, who have been elected to their roles unopposed.

Among them was Akay Darbaz, the leader of the Turkish Cypriot mukhtars’ union, who was re-elected as mukhtar of the village of Nikitas, near Morphou, and Melek Arabacioglu, the mukhtar of the suburb of Yenikent, in Kioneli.