Cyprus president seeks allies in new House

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides has appealed to a potential alliance of centre and right parties to establish a hold in the House of Representatives, after two of his junior coalition members failed to get into parliament on Sunday. The two ideologically opposite parties, the Democratic Rally (DISY, EPP) of the right and its long-time rival communist AKEL (GUE/NGL), retained their 17 and 15 seats, respectively, in the 56 member parliament, with the only other mainstream presence being that of the Democratic Party (S&D), that lost a seat and settled for eight. Voter turnout improved from 63% in the previous elections in 2021 to 66%. All incoming deputies were sworn in at noon Monday and take up office on June 4. Although Cyprus has a presidential system, a majority in the Houe is necessary in order to pass government bills and approve the annual budget, the only way that the deputies can keep a check on the administration. With DISY as yet undecided if it is in opposition or not, its leader and outgoing House Speaker Annita Demetriou declared late on Sunday that her party would work with any political group, as long as the national interest is upheld. This was widely seen as a hint that it may join hands with the pro-Christodoulides DIKO to elect the next leader of the parliament, in exchange for support in the 2028 presidential elections. But to elect the next Speaker of the House, a post Demetriou is interested in retaining, would require the support or some sort of alliance with the nationalist ELAM (European Conservatives and Reformists), even though the extreme right-wing part said it would never support Demetriou. ELAM, however, has not rejected any other cooperation with DISY and DIKO. This could satisfy Christodoulides, who has high hopes of being re-elected in two years’ time. “Our government will continue to work to achieve convergences where there are common concerns, common priorities and common perceptions of the public interest,” he said. Calling on the new parliament, Christodoulides said his administration would maintain its western policy, would remain focused on social liberalism and work hard to boost security and manage migration, words that sound appealing to DISY, DIKO and ELAM. 15-year negative trend AKEL, that broke a 15-year negative trend under its current leader Stefanos Stefanou, regained 1.4% in the popular vote and openly criticised Christodoulides on his “failed policies” and stated it would remain firmly in the opposition camp. The newcomer ALMA, headed by former Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, has also opposed Christodoulides and committed to staying in opposition. The other newcomer to parliament, is social media entrepreneur and MEP Fidias Panayiotou’s Direct Democracy party, that also won four seats. With Fidias heading the party ticket, he is expected to surrender his seat to the party’s next runner up in order to remain in the European Parliament. In a statement after the polls closed on Sunday night, President Christodoulides also said his two junior coalition partners, the socialist EDEK and the DIKO-spinoff Democratic Alignment (DIPA), “should have been in parliament, they deserved to be in parliament. “They only lost by tens or a few hundred votes.” EDEK, mired by infighting over the party’s leadership, and DIPA failed to reach the national threshold of 3.6%, as did the Ecologists and Volt Cyprus, the local branch of the Eurofederalists Volt Europe. This change also means that after a 56 year history, the socialists will be left out of the National Council, the president’s advisory on the Cyprus issue, as will the ecologists, who have had a parliamentary presence for 25 years. DIPA also lost its right to sit on the National Council, reserved only to leaders or representatives of parliamentary parties. Amputation of the centre “The parliamentary exit of historic parties (EDEK and Ecologists), as well as DIPA is causing a structural amputation of the centre and the centre-left,” said Frederick University rector Giorgos Demosthenous. DIKO leader Nicholas Papadopoulos said that he will restart efforts to unite the centre, probably by merging or seeking alliances with EDEK and DIPA, in an effort to support Christodoulides. “The voice of the center and all democratic forces will not be lost,” he said, with an immediate reaction from EDEK’s spokesman Giorgos Georgiou on Monday, that “when DIKO takes the initiative, then we will talk.” DIPA leader, Marios Karoyan, also appeared open to dialogue late on Sunday, saying that “from tomorrow a new cycle at DIPA will begin” and that from the ashes “we will take care of rebuilding this central sphere.” Another disappointment is the continued absence of women in parliament, with only 11 deputies from all parties. With 29 incumbent re-elected, the Interior Ministry will also have to call on a local by-election after Aglandja deputy mayor Andreas Constantinou was elected to parliament on the DISY ballot, vacating his mayoral seat. The deputy mayors were established in 2024 after local administrative reforms saw the number of town councils drastically reduced and merged, with Aglandja becoming a municipal department of the now greater Nicosia Municipality. Whoever is elected House Speaker, he or she will be deputised by Zacharias Koulias, a veteran MP and refugee from Famagusta, who was elected on the DIKO ticket, a seat he has retained since 1999. Oldest and millennials The oldest member of the House becomes Acting Speaker whenever the president of the parliament is absent, or if the Speaker deputises the President of the Republic, thus becoming the Acting President. The Cypriot parliament also has two millennials, poet Efraim Christou of AKEL and Demetris Baros of Direct Democracy, both aged 24. Some candidates and incumbents also got into parliament because they changed camp prior to the elections, allowing their new hosts’ success to secure a seat. These include Marios Pelekanos, a former DISY vice president and government spokesman in the Anastasiades administration, who switched to nationalist ELAM, former MP Evgenios Hamboullas who also moved from DISY to ELAM, as did former Strovolos mayor Andreas Papacharalambous, who left DISY, was not given a cabinet seat after Christodoulides was elected in 2023 and joined ELAM. On the other hand, Irene Chralambidou, a vocal member of the last parliament, who was scratched from the AKEL ballot because of the party’s limit on terms in office, joined ALMA and got the second most preference votes. Changing three parties is veteran journalist and TV presenter Demetris Souglis who went from DIKO to ELAM, and now enters parliament with Direct Democracy. Among the three religious groups, the Armenian and Latin candidates were unopposed, and Vartkes Mahdessian was declared for the fifth consecutive time, while Antonella Mantovani will represent the Latins for a third consecutive term. The Maronite community elected business consultant Petros Nacouzi as its new Representative, defeating outgoing MP for Kyrenia, economist Marios Mavrides. The post Cyprus president seeks allies in new House appeared first on Financial Mirror.