— AKEL, DISY get 18 seats each, DIKO has 10
Most of the parties comprising the ruling coalition administration gained ground in the Cyprus parliamentary elections Sunday, but the island’s two main rival parties lost seats and a smaller party chief resigned after he failed to enter the House of Representatives.
In all, 487 candidates challenged the 56 seats in parliament, a mainly legislative and non-executive body, while the island-state’s president is elected directly by the people.
The main coalition partner, the communist AKEL, shed 3.4 percentage points from its voters and polled 31.2% of the votes, entering parliament with 18 deputies, two less than in the previous assembly.
“AKEL, has been and will remain the first party of Cyprus, a democratic communist party unlike any other in Europe,” declared party Secretary General and parliament president Demetris Christofias.
Despite earlier projection by exit polls that it would be the largest party in parliament, Cyprus‘ opposition Democratic Rally (DISY) won 30.3% of the votes, shedding 3.7 percentage points losing a seat and will now have 18 deputies in the House.
“We were attacked on all fronts, even from inside, but those who abandoned us failed to break up the party,” said DISY president and member of the European People’s Party executive council, Nicos Anastassiades.
The clear winner in these elections is the Democratic Party (DIKO) of President Tassos Papadopoulos that raised its voter strength by three percentage points to 17.9% and gained a new seat, rising to 10 deputies.
One of the newcomers is the president’s son, Nicholas Papadopoulos.
Speaking before exit poll reports, Papadopoulos said that the elections were finished and that democracy does not have any winners or losers: “The only winners is democracy and our country, which shows a political and cultural maturity.”
Political analysts say that this outcome will also boost Papadopoulos‘ party which will have enough public support to seek a second term in office in 2008, while coalition partner AKEL, though still the biggest party, has now lesser chances of putting forward its own candidate for president.
The social-democrat EDEK, which has two ministers in Papadopoulos‘ present cabinet, also improved despite earlier predictions of a loss, earning 8.9% of the votes and five seats, gaining one new deputy.
“We are happy because we have increased out parliamentary presence,” said honorary party president Vasos Lyssarides.
The European Party (Evroko) – created by four deputies who left DISY two years ago and merged with the nationalist New Horizons and the single-seat ADIK – recorded a marginal gain to 5.7% with four seats in the new parliament.
The Green Party/Ecologist Movement made no gains, ending the day with 1.9% of the vote and just one seat, while the party had been hopeful it would get a second deputy.
The United Democrats (EDI) of former president George Vassiliou was the biggest loser of the day, failing to reach the threshold of 1.8% in order to enter the House of Representatives.
The party’s present president, Michalis Papapetrou, handed in his resignation and called for an early party congress in June to elect a new leadership.
“It’s a shame that our policies were not accepted by the public,” Papapetrou said, referring to EDI’s open support of the United Nations peace plan, dubbed the “Annan Plan”, that was rejected by the majority of the Greek Cypriot community in April 2004.
Meanwhile, the island’s three ethnic and religious minorities also went to the polls to elect a representative in parliament.
Newcomer Vartkes Mahdessian won the seat for the Armenians, incumbent Antonis Hadjiroussos won a second term for the Maronites and Benito Mantovani won a third successive term for the Latin community.
