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Cyprus - Politics

Parliamentary elections in the Republic held in May 1996 – the first to be held since the adoption of proportional representation – returned the Democratic Rally–Liberal Party coalition (supporting President Glafkos Clerides) with a majority of one seat.

There was optimism that real negotiations might be about to begin when in July 1997, Clerides and Rauf Denktash (leader in the occupied north) met for the first time in three years at a UN-sponsored meeting in New York. Subsequent meetings were held in Nicosia and Glion (Switzerland) over the next six weeks. However, tension was mounting with successive military exercises on the island by Greece and Turkey, and when it became clear that the EU negotiations would proceed without reference to the occupied north if a settlement had not been reached in the meantime, and also that Turkey was not at this period invited to join the EU, Denktash left the talks and the process was stalled.

The first round of the presidential elections in February 1998 was inconclusive. President Clerides (aged 78) narrowly won the second-round contest with George Iacovou with 51% of the votes. Clerides then formed a broadly based coalition administration, to prepare for further negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots and the accession talks with the EU.

Talks with the Turkish Cypriots continued during 1999 and 2000, but progress remained stalled because the parties were unable to agree on future constitutional arrangements. While the Greek Cypriots, with the support of the international community, were seeking a return to a bi-communal independent federation with a central government, the Turkish Cypriots were insisting on a confederation of two equal states.

Accession negotiations with the EU began in November 1998 and the accession treaty on formal entry of Cyprus and nine other candidate countries in May 2004 was signed in April 2003.

In the parliamentary elections in May 2001, AKEL took an increased share of 34.7% of votes but the ruling coalition of Democratic Rally (34%) and United Democrats (2.6%) narrowly won the contest. Centre-right DIKO (14.8%) and social democratic KISOS (6.5%) both received slightly fewer votes than in 1997. For the first time 18–21 year-olds were entitled to vote and, since voting is compulsory, there was a high turnout (some 92%) of the 468,000 registered voters.

Talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots continued during 2001–02 and, from January 2002, these were UN-mediated talks between Clerides and Denktash, ending in March 2003 when the two leaders were unable to agree on putting the UN’s settlement proposals to referendums in their communities, though both sides agreed to continue negotiations.

DIKO leader, Tassos Papadopoulos, won the presidential election in February 2003, with the support of AKEL and KISOS, receiving 52% of the votes, while Clerides took 39%.

Referendums on the UN reunification plan were held simultaneously in the two communities in April 2004. Greek Cypriots were overwhelmingly against the plan and Turkish Cypriots strongly for it. Among the reasons for the plan’s rejection by Greek Cypriots were that it would give them only limited rights to return to and recover their original homes, and that it would allow tens of thousands of Turkish immigrants to stay and Turkey to maintain a garrison.

The parliamentary elections in May 2006 were won by the governing coalition of AKEL, with 18 seats and 31% of the votes, DIKO (11 seats and 18% of the votes) and EDEK (KISOS) with five seats and 9% of the votes. Democratic Rally gained 18 seats and 30% of the votes.

In the lead up to the presidential election of 2008, the ruling coalition of DIKO, AKEL and EDEK failed to reach a consensus on a common candidate. Papadopoulos, the incumbent, would run for re-election but this time with only the support of DIKO and EDEK. Communist party AKEL insisted instead that their general secretary and House of Representatives’ president, Dimitris Christofias, should be the candidate, a decision which prompted them to leave the coalition. Ioannis Kasoulidis, of the Democratic Rally, was the other major candidate.

At the elections of 17 February 2008 turnout was high at around 90%. Results revealed a virtual tie among the three candidates: Papadopoulos with 31.8% of the vote, slightly behind Christofias (33.3%) and Kasoulidis (33.5%). Since none of the candidates achieved a simple majority – over 50% of the vote required to win the presidency outright – the two with the most votes, Christofias and Kasoulidis, proceeded to the next round. Papadopoulos, therefore, would not retain office. In the second round of the elections Christofias, whose main campaign theme was to reunify the island, defeated Kasoulidis by an almost 7% margin, 53.4% to 46.6%. On appointment as the country’s new president Christofias chose a coalition cabinet consisting of members from the DIKO, AKEL and EDEK parties.