The results of the April 2009 elections and the return of Derviş Eroğlu and his National Unity Party – UBP to power, brought for the first time to the top posts a left wing President, Mehmet Ali Talat, and a conservative head of the government, with a majority in the legislative. More important, with presidential elections expected one year later, Talat could feel his position already shaken; indeed, in April 2010, Talat lost to Derviş Eroğlu in the first round of the election. UBP took hold of both top offices, the presidency and the government, with a fragile majority in the parliament (26 out of 50 seats). Provided no split occurred and the party could keep all its deputies on board, it could govern for five years without the need to seek an ally for a coalition government. However, the pattern, splits and dissensions, a phenomenon that had marked Turkish Cypriot politics since the UDI in November 1983, happened again. In May 2013, eight UBP deputies left the party, which forced the government to call early elections, to hold on 28 July 2013.

The election of Derviş Eroğlu, who was not in favour of a federal solution to the Cyprus Problem, seeking the recognition of two states on the island, meant a new course in the negotiations between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot sides. There have been several tripartite meetings, with the participation of the UN secretary General Ban Ki Moon, in efforts to push forward a negotiations process. The Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Derviş Eroğlu decided, in July 2011, to start a series of full day meetings, in direct talks, until October 2011. During a tripartite meeting, the UN Secretary General announced that the talks ended with no progress achieved. New efforts led to the start of a fresh cycle of meetings in early 2012, to tackle the issue of properties, with no tangible results.

More than two years after Eroğlu’s election to the presidency, the UBP party congress held elections for a new leadership. Ahmet Kaşif appeared as a challenger to the incumbent İrsen Küçük, successor of Eroğlu for the post of the chairperson. Kaşif was holding a minister’s portfolio in Küçük’s cabinet and the challenge opened a period of internal battles in the UBP, with two top officials fighting for the leadership in a contest where they appeared to be neck to neck in influence. None of them won the majority of the registered party members, as required in the party statutes and the vote did not offer a generally accepted outcome, Moreover, this fight marked also a raw between Eroğlu and Ankara, with the Turkish government favouring Küçük and the Turkish Cypriot leader supporting Kaşif. The latter brought the case before the courts, which issued their verdict in his favour, prompting a new party vote. Despite a win by Küçük (708 votes against 701), more incidents caused problems to the majority. Deputies refused to participate in some sessions of the assembly’s work and, in May 2013, they supported a non-confidence vote proposed by the opposition, with eight of the majority deputies choosing to leave UBP. A caretaker government formed by CTP-DP-TDP held the elections on 28 July and stayed in power until a new government took over.

Only five political formations contested the elections, as follows:

The National Unity Party (Ulusal Birlik Partisi) – UBP, with İrsen Küçük.

The Republican Turkish Party New Forces (Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi Birleşik Güçler) – CTPBG, with Özkan Yorgancıoğlu, who succeeded Ferdi Sabit Soyer, in June 2011.

The Democratic Party (Demokrat Partisi – Ulusal Güçler) – DPUG with Serdar Denktaş.

The Communal Democracy Party (Toplumcu Demokrasi Partisi) – TDP, a merger of the Peace and Democracy Movement – BDH and the Communal Liberation Party – TKP, headed by Mehmet Çakıcı.

A new formation with the United Cyprus Party (Birleşik Kıbrıs Partisi) – BKP and the Forces of Communal Existence – TVG, headed by İzzet İzcan.

From the setting of the elections date, there were warnings that summer holidays could negatively affect turnout. However, the general political climate, internal battles in UBP, splits and dissensions and no clear issues at stake, other than the race to power were the key factors, not favouring participation. This resulted in the highest ever abstention rate, at 30.6%, which was more than 50% higher than the 2009 rate.

The Republican Turkish Party – CTP won the elections with 38.36%, leading UBP by 11 points and the DP by 15 points, but failed to win a majority of seats. CTP secured the highest score in both Nicosia and Famagusta towns and in all groups of communities. Its highest share (42.22% and 40.12%) was in communities always inhabited by Turkish Cypriots and in those where Turkish Cypriots settled after 1974 after they moved to the north from the south. Its lowest scores were in Famagusta and in communities where settlers from Turkey were the majority or sole inhabitants. For the first time ever, a left wing party secured the first place in settler communities (34.58%), more than four points ahead of the second, Democratic Party. The latter, increased its 2009 vote share by more than twelve points to 23.15%, thanks to the reinforcement it received after eight UBP dissidents joined it. This allowed it also to win more votes than UBP (30.49% against 28.13%) in the communities inhabited solely by settlers from Turkey and be very close to UBP in the towns of Nicosia and Famagusta. TDP, with 7.40% was the fourth party securing three seats in the parliament, one more than in 2009.

CTP formed a coalition government with DP.