Cyprus
Presidential Elections
Electoral system
According to the 1960 constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, the President is elected for a 5-year fixed term by members of the Greek Cypriot community. Following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the 2004 Aziz vs Cyprus case, electoral law was amended to enable Turkish Cypriots residing in the south to vote for the first time in presidential elections. The Presidential elections allows for several rounds, maximum three. For the first ballot, 50% + 1 of votes is required, 40% for the second, and for the third, the candidate who receives the largest number of votes is elected. The Republic of Cyprus follows a presidential system with Presidents enjoying more powers than, for example, their French or American counterparts.
Latest election
Election results 2006 - round 1 and 2
A two-round presidential election was held in Cyprus on 17 and 24 February 2008. The election was the first to take place after the country's accession to the European Union and the abortive UN-planned referendum on reunification in 2004.
The incumbent President, 74-year-old Tassos Papadopoulos, secured support from DIKO, EDEK and EUROKO – the three parties representing the hardline approach to Greek Cypriot reunification politics. He also received support from other smaller parties. Ioannis Kasoulides, 59-year-old former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was the DISY nominee for the presidency, while Dimitris Christofias, President of the House of Representatives since 2001, was the AKEL nominee.
At odds with the opinion poll predictions, Papadopoulos was eliminated in the first round, gaining only 31.79 percent of the vote compared to 33.51 percent for Kasoulides and 33.29 percent for Christofias. Before the second round, Christofias won the support of EDEK and DIKO, while EURO.KO remained neutral. Dimitris Christofias clearly benefited from this support from the losing parties, overturning the narrow first-round deficit and winning a second-round victory, with 53.37 percent compared to 46.63 percent for Ioannis Kasoulides. For the first time, the presidency was contended and won by a leader of the communist Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL). The high turnout in both rounds, 89.62 in the first round and 90.84 in the second, can be largely explained by mandatory voting.
Sources
Loizides, N.G,. 2009. The presidential election in Cyprus, February 2008. Electoral Studies, Volume 28: 163-166
Election results, http://www.electionguide.org/.
The Electoral Reform Society, European Democracies website.
