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Map of the Election By District. |
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Cyprus |
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Parliamentary elections were held in Cyprus on 22 May 2016 to elect 56 of the 80 Members of the House of Representatives.
Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt, and southeast of Greece.
The House of Representatives is the parliament of the Republic of Cyprus. Members and three observers representing the Armenian, Latin and Maronite minorities are elected by proportional representation every five years. 30% of seats are allocated to the Turkish Cypriot community, but these have been vacant since 1964.
The Republic of Cyprus is a unitary republic with a presidential system of government. The President of Cyprus, directly elected in the middle of the legislative term, is both head of state and head of government, presiding over the executive Council of Ministers. The multi-member proportional elections to the House of Representatives however accommodate a multi-party system, where the elected president's party usually joins forces with smaller parties to form a joint coalition government that usually adapts to parliamentary shifts after legislative elections.
A unitary state is a state governed as a single power in which the central government is ultimately supreme. The central government may create administrative divisions. Such units exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate. Although political power may be delegated through devolution to local governments by statute, the central government may abrogate the acts of devolved governments or curtail their powers. A large majority of the world's states have a unitary system of government.
A presidential system is a democratic and republican system of government where a head of government leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch. This head of government is in most cases also the head of state, which is called president.
The President of Cyprus is the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Cyprus. The office was created in 1960, after Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Currently, the President of Cyprus is Nicos Anastasiades, since 28 February 2013.
The 80 seats in the House of Representatives are elected from six multi-member constituencies, with the number of seats allocated according to the population of each area. Of the 80 seats, 56 are elected by Greek Cypriots and 24 by Turkish Cypriots. However, due to the partition of the island in 1974, the 24 Turkish Cypriot seats are unfilled and the House of Representatives has de facto had 56 seats since its enlargement in the 1980s.
Greek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 citizens in Cyprus recorded their ethnicity as Greek Cypriot, forming 78% of the population in the internationally recognised territories.
Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks are mostly ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land once they arrived in Cyprus. Additionally, many of the islanders converted to Islam during the early years of Ottoman rule. Nonetheless, the influx of mainly Muslim settlers to Cyprus continued intermittently until the end of the Ottoman period. Today, while Northern Cyprus is home to a significant part of the Turkish Cypriot population, the majority of Turkish Cypriots live abroad, forming the Turkish Cypriot diaspora. This diaspora came into existence after the Ottoman Empire transferred the control of the island to the British Empire, as many Turkish Cypriots emigrated primarily to Turkey and the United Kingdom for political and economic reasons. The emigration was exacerbated by the intercommunal violence in the 1950s and 1960s, as Turkish Cypriots had to live in enclaves in Cyprus.
The elections are held using open list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the Hare quota. Any remaining seats are allocated to lists that won at least one seat or parties that received at least 3.6% of the vote. [1] In the open list system, voters first select the list they want to vote for, and then select a number of candidates equal to a quarter of the number of seats in the constituency. The first candidate on the list is not required to receive preferential votes to be elected. Voting is mandatory, and anyone who fails to vote can be fined or imprisoned. [2]
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, party officials, or consultants to determine the order of its candidates and gives the general voter no influence at all on the position of the candidates placed on the party list. Additionally, an open list system allows voters to select individuals rather than parties. Different systems give voter different amounts of influence. Voter's choice is usually called preference vote.
Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.
The Hare quota is a formula used under some forms of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system and the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation. In these voting systems the quota is the minimum number of votes required for a party or candidate to capture a seat.
The previous legislative election took place on 22 May 2011. President Demetris Christofias of the communist Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) had led a coalition consisting of his party as well as the centrist Democratic Party (DIKO) and the social-democratic Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) since his election in 2008.
Demetris Christofias, also spelled Dimitris Christofias, is a Cypriot former politician who was the sixth President of Cyprus from 2008 to 2013. Christofias was the General Secretary of AKEL, the Communist Party of Cyprus, and was the European Union's and Cyprus' first, and so far only, Communist head of state. He won the 2008 Cypriot presidential elections in the second round of voting. Throughout the election campaign, he pledged to restart talks with Turkish Cypriots in order to find a solution to the Cyprus dispute and reunify the island. He has also supported the closure of the British military bases on Cyprus.
The Progressive Party of Working People is a Marxist–Leninist, communist political party in Cyprus.
After three years in power, AKEL scored 32.7% in the 2011 legislative elections, narrowly behind the opposition center-right Democratic Rally, which polled 34.3% of votes. Meanwhile, AKEL's partners DIKO and EDEK scored 15.8% and 8.9% respectively. A mere two months after the legislative election, the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion took place, triggering calls for President Christofias' resignation.
The Democratic Rally, is a conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Cyprus led by Averof Neofytou. The party was founded on 4 July 1976 by veteran politician Glafcos Clerides. Clerides served as the president of Cyprus from 1993 until 2003.
On 11 July 2011, a large amount of ammunition and military explosives that had been stored outdoors for over two years at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base near Zygi, Cyprus, self-detonated, killing 13 people, including the Commander of the Navy, Andreas Ioannides, the base commander and six firefighters. A further 62 people were injured.
Amidst widespread dissatisfaction and a deepening economic crisis, Christofias announced that he would not run for a second term in the presidential election in 2013. [3] Ultimately, Nicos Anastasiades of DISY emerged victorious in the presidential election, taking 45.5% of the vote, against 26.9% for the AKEL-backed Stavros Malas and the EDEK-backed Giorgos Lillikas. In the second round, Anastasiades captured 57.5% to 42.5% for Malas. The Anastasiades administration took office on 28 February 2013, comprising DISY, DIKO and the European Party (EVROKO). The Democrats later pulled out of the coalition, however. [4]
Roughly a year into the presidency of Nicos Anastasiades, the Cypriot parties faced the electorate in European Parliament elections. Ahead of the election, DISY and EVROKO announced that they would participate in the election on a joint ticket; the social democrats in EDEK and the Ecological and Environmental Movement (KOP) also formed an electoral pact for the event. With the economic problems the country faced under Demetris Christofias' AKEL-led government fresh in the minds of voters, the party plummeted to 27.0% of the vote, a loss of 8.4% points. Meanwhile, the DISY-EVROKO pact garnered 37.8%. This election also served as the first electoral test of the Citizens' Alliance (SYPOL) party of former presidential candidate Giorgos Lillikas, which polled 6.8% but failed to win seats in the European Parliament. The decline of AKEL and the rise of anti-establishment parties continued into 2015 and 2016. [5]
Mere months before the 2016 legislative election, ex-DISY MEP Eleni Theocharous launched a splinter party, in opposition to Anastasiades' approach to the Cyprus issue. [6] She advocated for tighter co-operation with other parties particularly DIKO and EDEK. The new party was dubbed the Solidarity Movement. On 11 March 2016, it was announced that EVROKO would merge into the new party, placing its candidates on its lists in the upcoming elections. [7]
A televised debate of DISY leader Averof Neophytou, AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou and DIKO leader Nicolas Papadopoulos on 18 May 2016 turned into a heated exchange on economy issues and the question of reunification. Papadopoulos claimed that "behind closed doors", AKEL was trying to resurrect the 2004 Annan plan that was turned down by the Greek side in a referendum. While Neophytou and Papadopoulos criticized AKEL's judgment of the economic situation ahead of the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis, Kyprianou recalled his two rivals' assessments at that time. Back then in October 2008, Neophytou had expected things to go "very well", though "based on overconsumption", while Papadopoulos had gone even further off the mark stating: "Yes, our economy will be impacted, but certainly not our financial system, which is one of the most resilient in the world." [8]
Date | Polling Firm | DISY | AKEL | DIKO | EDEK | EVROKO | KOP | ELAM | SYPOL | KA | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 May 2016 | Symmetron / Marc | 31.8 | 26.0 | 13.7 | 5.7 | with KA | 5.2 | 3.3 | 6.1 | 5.6 | 2.6 | 5.8 |
5–11 May 2016 | Cypronetwork | 32.2 | 25.5 | 14.2 | 5.7 | with KA | 5.4 | 3.2 | 6.1 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 6.7 |
5–10 May 2016 | IMR | 35.8 | 29.2 | 13.1 | 5.1 | with KA | 4.4 | 2.2 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 0.0 | 6.6 |
4–7 May 2016 | PMR & C | 31.5 | 24.9 | 14.3 | 6.0 | with KA | 4.4 | 3.3 | 6.6 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 6.6 |
26 Apr–3 May 2016 | IMR | 31.7 | 26.6 | 13.7 | 6.3 | with KA | 4.8 | 2.0 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 2.0 | 5.1 |
14–20 Apr 2016 | IMR | 33.8 | 26.2 | 12.7 | 6.2 | with KA | 4.0 | 2.7 | 6.6 | 5.3 | 2.5 | 7.6 |
8–18 Apr 2016 | IMR | 35.1 | 25.4 | 13.4 | 6.7 | with KA | 4.5 | 2.2 | 6.0 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 9.7 |
16 Apr 2016 | Kathimerini | 34.7 | 24.0 | 14.1 | 6.1 | with KA | 5.3 | 2.9 | 7.3 | 3.8 | 1.8 | 10.7 |
11–16 Apr 2016 | PMR & C | 31.9 | 24.8 | 13.8 | 6.0 | with KA | 4.7 | 2.6 | 6.8 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 7.1 |
3 Apr 2016 | IMR | 37.0 | 27.8 | 11.1 | 5.6 | with KA | 3.7 | 1.9 | 7.4 | 3.7 | 1.8 | 9.2 |
14–19 Mar 2016 | PMR & C | 31.9 | 25.9 | 12.8 | 6.3 | with KA | 5.0 | 2.5 | 6.5 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 6.0 |
25 Feb–2 Mar 2016 | IMR | 33.1 | 25.5 | 10.0 | 5.5 | 1.7 | 4.1 | 2.8 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 4.3 | 7.6 |
15–19 Feb 2016 | PMR & C | 34.0 | 24.7 | 13.7 | 6.0 | 2.1 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 6.2 | – | 5.4 | 9.3 |
13–17 Jul 2015 | GPO | 33.1 | 30.8 | 12.5 | 7.2 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 7.8 | – | 2.3 | 2.3 |
22 May | Election 2011 | 34.3 | 32.7 | 15.8 | 8.9 | 3.9 | 2.2 | 1.1 | — | — | 1.1 | 1.6 |
TV channel | DISY | AKEL | DIKO | EDEK | KOP | KA | SYPOL | ELAM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CyBC | 29.5 – 32.5 | 26.5 – 29.5 | 12 – 14 | 5 – 7 | 4 – 5 | 4 – 7 | 5 – 7 | 3.5 – 4.5 |
ANT1 | 29.5 – 33.5 | 25.5 – 29.5 | 12.5 – 14.5 | 5.3 – 6.7 | 3.3 – 4.7 | 3.8 – 5.2 | 4.5 – 5.7 | 3.5 – 4.5 |
MEGA | 30.5 – 33.5 | 26 – 29 | 11.5 – 14 | 4.5 – 6.6 | 3.5 – 4.5 | 3.5 – 4.5 | 4.5 – 6.6 | 2.5 – 4.5 |
Sigma | 29 – 34 | 24 – 29 | 12 – 15 | 4 – 6.5 | 3.5 – 6 | 4.5 – 7 | 4.5 – 7 | 3 – 5.5 |
Party | Vote | Seats | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | ±pp | Won | +/− | ||||||
Democratic Rally (DISY) | 107,825 | 30.69 | 18 | |||||||
Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) | 90,204 | 25.67 | 16 | |||||||
Democratic Party (DIKO) | 50,923 | 14.49 | 9 | |||||||
Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) | 21,732 | 6.18 | 3 | |||||||
Citizens' Alliance (SYPOL) | 21,114 | 6.01 | New | 3 | ||||||
Solidarity Movement (KA) | 18,424 | 5.24 | New | 3 | ||||||
Movement of Ecologists - Citizens' Cooperation (KOSP) | 16,909 | 4.81 | 2 | |||||||
National Popular Front (ELAM) | 13,041 | 3.71 | 2 | |||||||
Animal Party Cyprus (APC) | 4,088 | 1.16 | New | 0 | ||||||
People's Breath (PL) | 3,072 | 0.87 | New | 0 | ||||||
Flag Social Movement (KKS) | 2,033 | 0.58 | New | 0 | ||||||
Union of Fighters for Justice (OAD) | 983 | 0.28 | New | 0 | ||||||
Independents | 1,041 | 0.29 | 0 | |||||||
Reserved seats for minorities | 3 | |||||||||
Total | 351,389 | 100.00 | 59 | |||||||
Valid votes | 351,389 | 96.92 | ||||||||
Invalid votes | 7,675 | 2.12 | ||||||||
Blank votes | 3,478 | 0.96 | ||||||||
Voted/turnout | 362,542 | 66.74 | ||||||||
Absenteeism | 180,644 | 33.26 | ||||||||
Registered voters | 543,186 | |||||||||
Source: results.elections.moi.gov.cy |
The election had the lowest turnout for a legislative election in the history of the Republic of Cyprus. "General apathy with public affairs, but likewise frustration with the credit crunch and disappointment with politicians" was cited in the Cyprus Mail for the low turnout, whilst political analyst Hubert Faustmann cited "dissatisfaction of the public with the bigger parties" and "that parliamentary elections in Cyprus are not that important, given the weakness of the Cypriot parliament". AKEL was seen as the biggest loser of the election, possible reasons being cited as the party's failure to take up a "proactive" role and continued disillusionment with the Christofias administration. In contrast, an AKEL member, Irini Charalambidou, gained the highest number of votes for any candidate, following her stark critique of and fight against failing banks. The results were interpreted as a weakening of the front calling for a federal solution by the Turkish Cypriot press and political analyst Louis Igoumenides. Whilst the pro-solution parties, DISY and AKEL, still received a combined 56% of the votes against 40% obtained by anti-solution parties, in the case of a referendum the "yes" vote was expected by Igoumenides to be much lower, partly due to the refusal of fanatic voters of DISY and AKEL to collaborate. [10] [11]
In terms of economics, the Anastasiades government became dependent on smaller parties in order to pass important reforms. This was expected to impede the ability of the government to pass these reforms, economic analyst Fiona Mullen said "I think we can forget privatization altogether". [12] This was also the first time the far-right party ELAM entered the parliament. Anti-racist NGO KISA called upon political parties in the parliament to counter ELAM and stated its "concern over the number of absentee voters and the rightward drift of the electorate towards political parties that espouse racism and nationalism" and Turkish Cypriot daily Diyalog called the party "terrorist". [13] [11]
Cypriot electoral expert Yiannis Mavris said: "The electoral results herald a new political era for Cyprus. New small parties seem to be here to stay and will be exerting continuous pressure on traditional parties, which may find it difficult to win back their voters." [14]
The Movement for Social Democracy is a Greek Cypriot nationalist, social-democratic political party in Cyprus.
The Democratic Party is a Greek-Cypriot nationalist, centrist political party in Cyprus founded in 1976 by Spyros Kyprianou.
Elections in Cyprus gives information on election and election results in Cyprus.
The European Party was a political party in Cyprus founded in 2005, largely out of the parties New Horizons and European Democracy. In March 2016, it dissolved to merge into the Solidarity Movement.
Nicos Anastasiades is a Cypriot politician who has been President of Cyprus since 2013. On 4 February 2018, he was re-elected for a second five-year term. Previously, he was the leader of Democratic Rally and a Member of Parliament for Limassol.
The Cypriot presidential election of 2008 was held on 17 February 2008, with the runoff held on 24 February 2008. The second-round winner, and thus the President of Cyprus for the next term, was Dimitris Christofias.
Marios Garoyian is a Cypriot politician. He served as leader of the Democratic Party from 2006 to 2013.
Eleni Theocharous is a Cypriot pediatric surgeon and politician who is a member of the political party Solidarity Movement. She was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 and re-elected in 2014. Between 2001 and 2009, Theocharous was a member House of Representatives of Cyprus for the Limassol constituency.
Parliamentary elections were held in Cyprus on 22 May 2011 to elect the 56 Members of the House of Representatives. They were won by the Democratic Rally, who increased their seats from 18 to 20. The governing Progressive Party of Working People also gained a seat, bringing them up to 19. The Democratic Party lost two of their 11 seats and the European Party lost one of their three seats. The Movement for Social Democracy held on to their five seats.
Presidential elections were held in Cyprus on 17 February 2013. A runoff was held on 24 February 2013. Nicos Anastasiades of Democratic Rally won the election. The other candidates were Stavros Malas of the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL); Praxoula Antoniadou of the United Democrats; Lakis Ioannou with the support of LASOK; Loukas Stavrou; ELAM's Giorgos Charalambous, Giorgos Lillikas of Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK); and independents Andreas Efstratiou, Makaria-Andri Stylianou, Kostas Kyriacou(Outopos) and Solon Gregoriou. Although the president Demetris Christofias was not term-limited, he did not seek re-election in 2013.
Nicos Nicolaides is a Greek Cypriot politician. He is currently the Mayor of Limassol. From May 2011 to December 2016, he was a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives of Cyprus, representing the Limassol constituency under the banner of social democratic party EDEK.
A joint declaration was made on 11 February 2014 at the start of renewed negotiations to settle the Cyprus dispute. The following talks between Nicos Anastasiades, President of Cyprus, and Derviş Eroğlu, President of Northern Cyprus, were stalled in October 2014.
Cyprus's component of the 2014 European Parliament election was held on Sunday, 25 May 2014.
The Solidarity Movement is a Greek Cypriot nationalist party in Cyprus. It was founded in 2016 by Eleni Theocharous.
The First Anastasiades government was the government of Cyprus, forming the Council of Ministers, in 2013–2018. Sworn in on 28 February 2013, it initially consisted of 13 ministers representing a governing coalition of President Nicos Anastasiades' Democratic Rally party (DISY) with DIKO and EVROKO parties. After the withdrawal of DIKO from the coalition in 2014, the government coalition consists only of DISY and EVROKO members, as well as other, independent technocrats. Following Anastasiades' victory in the 2018 election, the Second Anastasiades government was formed, with a very similar composition.
Greek-Cypriot nationalism is an ethnic nationalism emphasising Greekness of the Cypriot nation, whilst contrasting with Greek nationalism which aspires to integrate Cyprus into Greece as its main and number one objective. Having abandoned the idea of enosis, Greek Cypriot nationalists now have the aim of a Greek Cypriot-controlled state with close relations to Greece, the "motherland". Variants of the nationalism have been espoused by the centre-right Democratic Party (DIKO), the right-wing New Horizons, Socialists (EDEK), the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, and nationalist elements within the centre-right Democratic Rally (DISY).
Presidential elections were held in Cyprus on 28 January 2018. As no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round, a run-off was held on 4 February between the top two candidates, incumbent President Nicos Anastasiades of the Democratic Rally (DISY) and Stavros Malas of the Progressive Party of Working People. Anastasiades emerged as the winner with 55.99% of the vote.