United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin asked President Nikos Christodoulides what his intentions are after the Turkish Cypriot leadership election, which is set to take place next month, according to reports on Saturday.

Newspaper Phileleftheros reported that Holguin had “sought to hear [Christodoulides’] views on the future” of the north and what his intentions are should incumbent Ersin Tatar or his opposition-backed challenger Tufan Erhurman emerge as the election’s victor on October 19.

Christodoulides, the newspaper said, “stressed to Holguin his readiness to work with the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, whoever he may be, with the aim of resuming talks aimed at a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem”.

According to the latest polling, Erhurman holds a small lead over Tatar, with Tatar attempting to become the first incumbent Turkish Cypriot leader since Rauf Denktash in 2000 to win re-election.

Erhurman favours a return to negotiations based on a federal solution, which is also ostensibly Christodoulides’ favoured model, and the solution set out by UN resolutions.

He set out his stall at a rally attended by around 1,000 people in Kyrenia last month, telling the crowd that “every corner of this island will be Europe”.

“I swear and I promise, there will be no European south or Middle Eastern north on this island. Every corner of this island will be Europe. All young people, regardless of where they were born, will live together in a life worthy of human dignity. We do not accept inequality,” he said.

He then said that October 20, the day after the election, will be a “day of change”, before directly addressing President Nikos Christodoulides.

“From here, we call on Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides. If he is sincere about a solution, our political equality will be accepted before we even sit down, and a timetable will be set. If they abandon the negotiating table again, we will not return to the current status quo,” he said.

Tatar, meanwhile, favours a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem, and said upon the formal submission of his candidacy on Friday that this is the model to which he and Turkey will abide, and that Turkey will not countenance a return to negotiations based on a federal model.

“Under the leadership of the president of the Republic of Turkey, [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, our motherland, Turkey, has declared at the highest level and with clarity that everyone can understand that ‘the book of federation is closed forever’. Despite this, it is thought-provoking that some people ignore this statement or feign ignorance,” he said.