General Information on Elections

1. General information on elections
2. Results of previous elections
3. 2008 Presidential Elections - candidates’ curriculum vitae

 

1. General information on elections

The election of the President is direct, by universal suffrage and secret ballot.  Every citizen over the age of 18 has the right to vote.

The President’s term of office is for a period of five years starting from the date of his investiture before the House of Representatives.  The election of a new President takes place before the expiration of the five-year period of office of the outgoing President so as to enable the newly-elected President to be invested on the date that period expires.

Candidates for election must be citizens of the Republic of Cyprus and over 35 years of age.
If there is only one candidate for election, he is declared elected.

A candidate to be elected needs more than 50% of the votes validly cast.  If none of the candidates attains the required majority the election is repeated on the corresponding day of the following week between the two candidates who received the greater number of votes.   The candidate who receives the greatest number of votes at these repeated elections is deemed elected.

If there is a vacancy in the office of President, the vacancy is filled by a by-election taking place within a period not exceeding 45 days of the occurrence of such a vacancy.

In the event of a temporary absence or incapacity of the President to perform his duties, the President of the House of Representatives acts for him.

 

2. Results of Presidential Elections 1959- 2003

History of Presidential elections

1959 Elections

The first Presidential Elections in Cyprus took place before independence on 13 December 1959. Archbishop Makarios was elected President of the Republic defeating his opponent Ioannis Clerides by a margin of two to one. 

The next elections were due in 1965 but were postponed as a result of the extraordinary situation created by the intercommunal strife. The term of office was extended by a law of the House of Representatives.

1968 Elections

In elections on 25 February 1968, Archbishop Makarios was returned with 96% of the vote.

 

In 1973 President Makarios was re-elected unopposed. After his death in 1977 the then President of the House of Representatives, Spyros Kyprianou, assumed duties temporarily.
On August 31, 1977 Spyros Kyprianou was declared elected unopposed, for the remainder of the presidential term. 
In February 1978 he was again declared elected unopposed for a new five-year term.

1983 Elections

On February 13, 1983 President Kyprianou supported by his center Democratic Party and left-wing AKEL, was re-elected to office. He was opposed by Glafcos Clerides, the leader of the right-wing Democratic Rally Party and Vassos Lyssarides of the Socialist party, EDEK. 

  1988 Elections

In February 1988 George Vassiliou was elected to the post of President of the Republic. In the first ballot on February 14, 1988 none of the four candidates received the required 50% plus one vote, but in the second round  on 21 February Glafcos Clerides was defeated.  

 

1993 Elections

On 14 February 1993 Glafcos Clerides, the leader of the Democratic Rally Party, was elected to the post of  President of the Republic defeating George Vassiliou, who again ran as an Independent candidate supported by AKEL and ADISOK. Clerides secured the support of the Democratic Party in the second round.

 
1998 Elections  

In the elections of February 1998 President Glafcos Clerides, was re-elected to the post of President of the Republic.

 

2003 Elections

On 16 February 2003, Presidential Elections took place for the election of the new President of the Republic of Cyprus. In the 2003 Presidential Elections, 476.352 registered voters had the right to vote. They were distributed into 1.076 polling stations in the Government-controlled area of the Republic.
The number of registered voters and polling stations for each district were the following:

 

Voters

Polling Stations

Nicosia

195.662

414

Famagusta

25.433

50

Larnaka

79.394

169

Limasol

134.041

323

Paphos

41.822

120

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

3. 2008 Presidential Election - candidates’ curriculum vitae

Mr Tassos Papadopoulos, President of the Republic of Cyprus

Curriculum vitae

Tassos Papadopoulos was born in Nicosia in January 1934. He studied law in London (Gray’s Inn, Barrister-at-Law).

He took active part in the EOKA liberation struggle as head of the Nicosia Section and later on as general head of PEKA - the political section of EOKA.

He took part in the London Conference in 1959 and was one of the two delegates (besides the AKEL delegates) who voted against the signing of the London and Zurich Agreements. He was also one of the four representatives of the Greek Cypriot side at the Constitutional Commission which drafted the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus.

For 12 years he served successively as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Finance, Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Minister of Health and Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

He served as advisor to the first representative of the Greek Cypriot side in the intercommunal talks, Mr. Glafcos Clerides, until April 1976 and subsequently he took up that post himself, serving until July 1978.

He represented Cyprus at many international conferences, particularly the annual congresses of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Furthermore he represented the Greek Cypriot community in many recourses by Cyprus filed at the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

Until his election he practiced law in Nicosia.

At the Parliamentary elections held on 15 July 1970 he was elected member of the House of Representatives, standing as an Eniaion (Unified Party) candidate for the Nicosia constituency. Standing as an independent candidate, he was re-elected in the election of 5 September 1976. From April until October 1976 he served as President of the House of Representatives. In the 19 May 1991 parliamentary elections he was elected member of the House of Representatives, standing as a candidate for the Democratic Party in the Nicosia constituency. He was re-elected on 26 May 1996.

On 7 October 2000, he was elected unopposed President of the Democratic Party during the historic electoral congress at which the founder of the Party, Spyros Kyprianou, stood down. At the 27 May 2001 elections he was re-elected at the head of the Democratic Party ticket. On 25 February 2005 he was re-elected, unopposed, President of the Democratic Party.

He was a member of the National Council, Chairman of the Standing Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs and member of the Committee on Selection and the Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs. He was also Co-chairman of the Joint Cyprus-EU Parliamentary Committee.

The President of the Republic assumed duties on 28 February 2003.

He is married to Photini Michaelides (of the family of Anastasios Leventis) and they have four children: Constantinos, Maria, Nicholas and Anastasia.

 

Mr Demetris Christofias, President of the House of Representatives

Curriculum vitae

Born in Dhikomo, Kyrenia District, now in the area occupied by Turkish troops, on 29 August 1946; lives in Nicosia. Married to Elsi Chiratou; has two daughters and one son. Historian.

 

Parliamentary Activities

 

At the parliamentary elections of 19 May 1991 he was elected Member of the House of Representatives standing as an AKEL-Left-New Forces candidate in Kyrenia and was re-elected at the parliamentary elections of 26 May 1996, 27 May 2001 and 21 May 2006.

 

He was elected President of the House of Representatives for the Eighth Term of Office of the House (2001-2006). On 1 June 2006 he was re-elected President of the House for the Ninth Term of Office.

He is ex officio chairman of the Committee of Selection and chairman of the Ad Hoc House Committee on Rules of Procedure and of the Special House Committee on Declaration and Examination of Financial Interests.

 

He is also president of the Executive Committee of the Cyprus Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and of the Executive Committee of the Cyprus Group to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

 

Political - social activities

 

At the age of fourteen he joined the Pancyprian United Students Organisation and in 1964 he became a member of AKEL, of the Pancyprian Federation of Labour (PEO) and of the United Democratic Youth Organisation (EDON). In 1969, at the 5th congress of EDON, he was elected member of its Central Council.

 

In 1974, following the completion of his studies in Moscow, he returned to Cyprus and was employed by EDON, where he was elected to the post of central organisational secretary and, in 1977, to the post of general secretary. He served at this post until 1987.

 

In 1976 he was elected member of the Nicosia-Kyrenia District Committee of AKEL. In 1982 he was elected member of the Central Committee, in 1986 member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and in 1987 member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the party. Following the death of Ezekias Papaioannou, AKEL’s general secretary, on 10 April 1988, he was appointed acting general secretary by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the party. On 22 April 1988 the plenum of the Central Committee elected him to the post of general secretary of the party’s Central Committee, a post to which he was re-elected four more times (1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005).

He is a member of the National Council, the supreme advisory body to the President of the Republic on the Cyprus problem.

 

Honorary awards

 

In 2004 the Department of International and European Economic and Social Studies of the University of Macedonia awarded him an honorary doctorate.

 

Studies

 

Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow. Doctorate in history science (Academy of Social Sciences of the Soviet Union).

 

Foreign languages

 

English, Russian.

 

 

Mr Ioannis Kasoulides, Member of European Parliament 

Curriculum vitae

 

·         Graduate in medicine (M.D.), (Lyons, 1974); specialised in geriatrics at London Hospital (1981). Hospital doctor and lecturer (London 1975-1981). Practised medicine in Nicosia (1981-1993).

 

·         Various posts in Democratic Rally (DISY) (1985-1989). Chairman of Democratic Rally Youth Movement (1990-1993). Member of the Democratic Rally Political Bureau (from 1993).

 

·         Member for Nicosia (1991-1993).

 

·         Government spokesman (1993-1997). Minister of Foreign Affairs (1997-2003).

·         Founder of D.D.K. Strategy and Public Affairs Limited (communications and crisis management consultants) (July 2003).

 

·         Commander of the Order of the Pheonix Hellenic Republic. Commander of the Order of Merit Hellenic Republic. Commander of the Order of Xirka (Malta). Commander of the Order of the Cedar (Lebanon). Commander of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Palestinian Bethlehem 2000 Award. Athens Municipality Highest Distinction Award.

 

 

Mr Marios Matsakis, Member of European Parliament 

Curriculum vitae

 

  • Graduate in microbiology (B.Sc.) (London, 1976); Doctorate (Ph.D.) in biochemistry (London, 1981); Diploma in general medicine and general surgery (M.B., B. Chir.) (Cambridge, 1984); Diploma in forensic medicine (D.F.M.) and Masters Degree (M. Phil.) in forensic medicine (Glasgow, 1992); Diploma in medical jurisprudence (D.M.J.) (Path.) (United Kingdom, 1993); qualifications and practise in the field of forensic surgery (Greece, 1993) and pathological anatomy (Greece, 1994). Medical practitioner and lecturer at British medical schools (1984-1993). Forensic surgeon in Cyprus from 1994.
     
  • Member of Democratic Party Central Committee (1996-2001, 2001-2004). Member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (1996-2001
     
  • Member (1996-2001, 2001-2004) and Quaestor of the Cypriot Parliament (1996-2001). Member and vice-chairman of various parliamentary committees (human rights, health, environment, defence, etc.) (1996-2004).
     
  • Member (1996-2001, 2001-2004) and Quaestor of the Cypriot Parliament (1996-2001). Member and vice-chairman of various parliamentary committees (human rights, health, environment, defence, etc.) (1996-2004).
     
  • Observer at the European Parliament (2003-2004).
     
  • Substitute member of the Convention for the European Constitution (2002-2003). Member of the EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee (2001-2004).
     
  • Member of ‘Médecins du Monde’ and ‘Médecins sans frontières’.

 

Mr Costas Themistocleous

Curriculum vitae

He was born at Amiantos on 20 August 1949. He received his secondary education at the Gymnasium of Solea and then did his military service. He graduated from the School of Economics and Political Science of the University of Athens.

Afterwards he did a post-graduate course on Economic Development in London. In the course of his studies he was actively involved in the student movement and in London he was actively engaged in Cyprus party politics. He worked for the AKEL Branch in Britain and also as a journalist for the AKEL newspaper published in London «Paroikiaki Haravghi».

In 1977 he returned to Cyprus where he worked as Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper

«Neolaia». He was also member of the Central and Executive Council as well as of the Secretariat of the AKEL youth organization EDON.

From 1982 until 1990 he was in charge of the International Relations Department of the left- wing Pancyprian Labour Federation PEO. In this post he also promoted relations with Turkish Cypriot trade unions. He was elected member of the General and Executive Council of PEO and participated in the International Labour Conference in Geneva. He has also given lectures on trade union matters at the Mediterranean Institute of Management in Nicosia.

In 1990 he was among the founders of the left-wing party ADISOK (Democratic Socialist Reform Movement). He served as Organising Secretary and Vice-President of ADISOK until 1996 when the party merged with the Movement of Free Democrats to form the United Democrats Party. He was elected General Secretary of the new party.

He was also member of the Union of Municipalities, the Industrial Disputes Court, the Board of Industrial Training Authority, the Joint Town Planning Board for Greater Nicosia and the Board of the Cyprus Cinema Society.

In 1984 he was elected member of the Strovolos Improvement Board and in 1986 member of the first Municipal Council of the Strovolos Municipality.

He has written numerous articles on the Cyprus problem and participated actively in the movement for rapprochement and reconciliation between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. He has also taken part in seminars and conflict resolution workshops both in Cyprus and abroad.

He is married and has three children.