Kyrenia Research Institute that is established under the Girne American University (GAU) has shared the presidential election survey which is to be held in April with the public.

 

At the press conference held in the conference room of Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, it was specified that Cyprus problem, health, social security and unemployment are among the priority issues of the TRNC and that the most trusted institutions are the army, the police and the courts. It became evident that according to the survey of 695 people in five districts, 46 percent of the people can barely survive to live.

 

According to the survey which included questions related with the election in April, "if there was an election today", the vote distribution would be as follows; Dervis Eroglu 46 percent, Sibel Siber 30 percent, Mustafa Akıncı 17 percent and Kudret Özersay 7 percent.

 

At the press conference following the opening speech of GAE President, GAU CEO and Vice Chancellor of the Board Assist. Prof. Dr. Asım Vehbi, the survey results was revealed by GAE Board Member Erhan Vechi and the presidency results within the same survey by the Coordinator of GAE Hasan Erçakıca.

Vehbi, "GAE has successfully completed 5 researches so far its establishment."

 

GAE President, GAU CEO and Vice Chancellor of the Board Assist. Prof. Dr. Asım Vehbi has noted that GAE will continue to commence researches related with the problems faced by TRNC, expectations and opinions of the public.

 

Vehbi provided information on the past researches of GAE and stated that since the year which passed after the establishment of GAE, it has completed 5 researches successfully.

 

Vehbi pointed out that Expectations 2014 survey aimed to determine the expectations of the Turkish Cypriot people and was performed in order to share with the public at the beginning of 2015 year and expressed that a research on the Turkish Cypriot presidential election was also performed as part of this year`s survey.

 

Asım Vehbi stressed that the survey was completely carried out within the scope social responsibility projects without any commercial support and that it was not ordered by anyone, therefore it has no aim of providing benefits to anyone.

 

Vehbi who expressed that they stand at an equal distance to all political parties and candidates and will continue to do so as an institution, stated that the research was supported by academic and technical staff of their own.

 

Asım Vehbi, araştırmalarının kamuoyuyla paylaşılmasına devam edeceklerini ekledi.

 

GAE Board Member Erhan Vechi has also announced the Expectations Survey.

 

Vechi noted that the aim of the survey was to determine the short term political, economic and social expectations of Turkish Cypriots and that the scope of the survey was 18 years and over TRNC citizens.

 

Vechi stated that the survey method was very stage stratified random sampling and face to face.

 

Vechi drew attention to the fact that Expectations Survey 2014 was held on December 20, 2014 in Nicosia, Famagusta, Kyrenia, Morphou and Trikomo, also the survey was conducted with 695 participants by 48 interviewers.

 

Vechi explained that there were 5demographic, 14 expectation and 8 current political questions in the survey.

 

Vechi stated that the question of "Three most important problems to be solved in the TRNC" was answered as the Cyprus problem by 20.02 percent of respondents, Health and Social Security by 18.96 percent and unemployment by 16.11 percent.

 

Vechi stressed that the responses to the question of "Which are the most trusted institutions" as the army by 22.69 percent of the respondents, the police by 13.52 percent, the courts by 9.88 percent and the question of "The most important expectation of the people from the current government" was answered as the solution of the Cyprus problem by 48.9 percent, solution to the unemployment problem by 26.3 percent, the realization of economic protocol with Turkey by 12.5 percent.

 

Vechi stated that according to the survey results, 76.7 percent of people do not expect any solution of the Cyprus problem in the 2015 year and they think that the reason there isn’t a solution is 49.6 percent the Greek Cypriot side.

People Do Not Believe In The Natural Gas And Oil Found In The Mediterranean Will Contribute To The Solution…

 

Vechi who expressed that the question of "Do you believe that natural gas and/or oil located in the Mediterranean will contribute to the solution of the Cyprus problem" was answered as no by 49.1 percent of respondents, yes by 37.8 percent, and no idea by 13.1 percent and the question of " Do you believe that the water which will be brought to the island from Turkey will contribute to the solution of the Cyprus problem?" was answered as no by 48.1 percent, yes by 39.0 while 12.9 percent said that they have no idea.

 

Vechi noted that according to the survey, 63.0 percent of citizens believe that there will be no increase in their income or earnings in 2015, that the 46.6 percent of the respondents can barely survive and 76.0 percent thought that there will be an increase in the prices of goods and services in 2015.

 

Vechi stated that citizens’ satisfaction coefficient of life is 6.08 according to the survey results.

 

Also, Coordinator of GAE Hasan Erçakıca has announced results for the presidency which was included in the same survey.

 

Erçakıca stated that 64.7 percent of respondents answered yes to the question of "will you vote in the elections?"; 15.3 percent answered no and 20 percent stated that they haven’t made up their minds yet, expressed that the proportion of those who will participate in the elections is quite high and they think that this rate will rise until the presidential election to be held in April.

 

Erçakıca who indicated that 40.6 percent of the respondents did not want to move to the presidential system, the 29.9 percent thought that they should pass while the 29.5 percent of respondents said that they have no idea about it.

 

Erçakıca stated that the question which was asked to measure the political atmosphere in the TRNC "Which party would you vote for if there was as election today" was answered as National Unity Party (UBP) by 33 percent of the respondents, CTP-BG by the 29 percent, the others by the 27 percent, TDP by 6 percent while 5 percent replied as DP-UG.

 

Erçakıca stated that the respondents answered the question of "If there was a general election today, which party do you think would win?" as UBP by the 38 percent, CTP-BG by 34 percent, TDP by 4 percent, DP UG by 3 percent, others by 21 percent, and expressed that according to the results, potential of vote distributed between the two parties despite all the distrust.

 

On the other hand, Erçakıca explained that the question "Who would win if there was a presidential election today” was answered as independent candidate Dervis Eroglu by 42 percent, Sibel Siber by 18 percent, Mustafa Akıncı by 12 percent and Kudret Özersay by 5 percent while 25 percent gave no idea responses and the question of "Whom would you give your vote if the presidential election was today" was replied as Dervis Eroglu by 31 percent, Sibel Siber by 20 percent, 19 percent could not decide, Mustafa Akıncı by 11 percent while 14 percent replied neither.

 

Erçakıca summarized as Dervis Eroglu by 46 percent, Sibel Siber by 30 percent, Mustafa Akıncı by 17 percent, Kudret Özersay by 7 percent after the distribution of the rates of “I have no idea” and “neither” responses to the question of "Whom would you give your vote if the presidential election was today”.