Description of Electoral System

(courtesy of IFES election guide)

The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 5-year term. In the House of Representatives (Vouli Antiprosopon) 80 members are elected by popular vote to serve 5-year terms. 56 seats are assigned to the Greek Cypriots and 24 to Turkish Cypriots.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on link for definition

WANT MORE ELECTION-RELATED STATS FOR CYPRUS? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Elections in Cyprus

(courtesy of wikipedia)

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 is elected for a five year term by the people. 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.

Most Recent Election

(courtesy of wikipedia)

2009 European Parliament Elections

European Parliament elections of June 7, 2009, was the elections of the delegation from Cyprus to the European Parliament. The candidates contested for a total of six seats. Both the centre-right party of "Democratic Rally" (Dimokratikós Sinayermós) and the communist "Progressive Party of Working People" (Anorthotikó Kómma Ergazómenou Laoú) did well in the elections, recieving approximately 35 percent of the popular vote each, and gaining 7.5 and 7 percentage points in voter support respectively. However, despite this success, none of the two parties gained any new seats in the European Parliament.

The only change in the allocation of seats was that the "European Party" (Evroko) lost it's only seat, as a result of a 6.8 percentage points fall in voter support, to the social-democratic "Movement for Social Democracy" (Kinima Sosialdimokraton EDEK).

Past Elections

(courtesy of wikipedia)

2008 Presidential Elections

A presidential election was held in Cyprus on 17 February 2008, with the second round held on 24 February 2008. The first round saw a close result between three leading candidates, Dimitris Christofias of the communist AKEL, Iannis Kasoulidis of Democratic Rally and the incumbent Tassos Papadopoulous of the "Democratic Party" (Dimokratikó Kómma, DIKO). Results showed Kasoulidis in first place with 33.29, Christofias in second with 33.29, and Papadopoulous in third with 31.79 percent. Christofias and Kasoulidis therefore participated in the second round of presidential elections. The elimination of Papadopoulous in the first round were seen as surprising.

In the second round, Christofias won against Kasoulidis with the figures of 53.37 percent against 46.63 percent, and thus was sworn in as the new president of Cyprus on February 28.

2006 Legilative Elections

The 2006 legislative election in Cyprus took place on 8 February 2006, Andreas Christou, the Interior Minister, announced that the House of Representatives of Cyprus would be dissolved for weeks from the 13 April in order to allow a campaigning period.

A presidential election was held in Cyprus on 17 February 2008, with the second round held on 24 February 2008. The second-round winner, and thus the President of Cyprus for the next term, is Dimitris Christofias.