NICOSIA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Tufan Erhurman was elected on Sunday as the new leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, defeating incumbent leader Ersin Tatar in a runoff election, local media reported.
Erhurman, leader of the center-left Republican Turkish Party, won about 62.8 percent of the vote, while Tatar received 35.8 percent. He is expected to officially assume his duties later this week, according to the Cyprus Mail.
The election came amid renewed diplomatic efforts concerning the Cyprus issue. A high-level meeting on Cyprus is expected to take place in New York later this month, media reports said.
Cyprus has remained divided since 1974, when a Turkish military intervention followed a coup by Greek army officers. Since then, the island has remained partitioned, with Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots living separately.
