Hopes of deal to heal Cyprus rift increase following election

Turkish Cypriot candidate Tufan Erhurman and his wife Nilden Bektas talk to the media (Nedim Enginsoy/AP)

Hopes for a resumption of talks to heal Cyprus’s decades-old ethnic rift have been buoyed after Turkish Cypriots elected a leader who campaigned on getting back to negotiating a two-zone federation with rival Greek Cypriots after an eight-year stalemate.

Tufan Erhurman, 55, won by a landslide, receiving 62.76% of the vote, against incumbent Ersin Tatar’s 35.81%, according to unofficial figures broadcast on BRT TV.