The politics of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is head of state and the Prime minister the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The government exercises executive power. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of the government. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The president is elected for a five-year term. The current president is Mustafa Akıncı who won the presidential elections on 30 April 2015. The legislature is the Assembly of the Republic, which has 50 members elected by proportional representation from six electoral districts. As a result of latest elections, The Republican Turkish Party (CTP), the Peoples’ Party (HP), the Social Democratic Party (TDP) and the Democratic Party (DP) signed the protocol on 01 February 2018 for the new coalition government.
The population of North Cyprus is, Appx. 320,000 (2014 census). 42% of the population live in urban areas. The urban population is distributed as follows (rounded to the nearest 1000. Census 2014): Nicosia (62,000), Famagusta (41,000), Kyrenia (21,000), Güzelyurt (4,000), İskele (2,000), Lefke (3000).
The urban population is employed mainly in the service industry and light industries such as beverages, clothing, construction and in other commercial establishments. The rural population lives in villages. There are some 195 villages in North Cyprus. People in rural areas are mainly engaged in agriculture and produce a variety of crops. Wheat, barley, olives, carobs, melon, grapes, figs, potatoes and basic vegetables are grown commercially on a moderate scale. Citrus is the main export produce, however, exports from North Cyprus have been restricted to a great extent, due to the political status of the state.
The service industry has recently shown an increase mainly in Tourism, Banking and Education. The slow development in the economy has become an advantage for Tourism since it has resulted in unspoiled countryside and thus very low pollution. Education has recently developed to become one of the major sources of revenue, with 5 private universities being opened in the last 10 years, offering a good standard of international education to the students attending from neighboring countries, mainly Turkey.