Cyprus - 2008 Presidential Election
Communist Party leader Dimitris Christofias defeated Ioannis Kassoulides, a right-wing moderate and former foreign minister, in February 2008 in free and fair elections. Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security forces. The 2008 race was different. For the first time, there is a prospect of cooperation between right-wing DISY and left-wing AKEL, driven by their common desire to prevent Tassos Papadopoulos' reelection. Both parties emerged from Papadopoulos' five-year reign weaker and fear that his renewed mandate would push them further downhill. Moreover, the two parties share the view that the current administration's policies are leading the country to partition. Both parties face difficulties in convincing their respective memberships to abandon decades of indoctrination about the other's evilness, however. And preempting their collaboration is Papadopoulos's most-urgent second-round priority.
There is a new way of electioneering in Cyprus, for the first time, candidates have commissioned slick U.S. presidential styled TV spots, flashy websites with interactive features and have taken part in live TV debates. Just one of the many brash, expensive presidential campaign commercials that is running on Cyprus TV. Campaigning may have changed, but the problems regarding Cyprus three-decade division remain the same.
Since 1974 the southern part of Cyprus has been under the control of the government of the Republic of Cyprus (ROC), while the northern part, administered by Turkish Cypriots, proclaimed itself the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)" in 1983. The United States does not recognize the "TRNC," nor does any country other than Turkey. A substantial number of Turkish troops remained on the island. A buffer zone, or "green line," patrolled by the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) separates the two parts.
The ROC is a constitutional republic and multiparty presidential democracy. The area under control of the government has approximately 793,000 inhabitants. In 2006, 56 representatives were elected to the 80-seat Vouli Antiprosopon (House of Representatives) in free and fair elections.
As late as mid-May 2007, Communist party AKEL looked certain to back the re-election of Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and the continuation of the three-party (AKEL, EDEK, DIKO) governing coalition. Papadopoulos likely considered the Communists' support a given when he revealed 15 May 2007 that he would stand in the February 2008 election regardless of whether AKEL or the other parties had blessed his decision. A bland presidential race suddenly seemed spicier, and the once-strong sense of the inevitability of a second Papadopoulos term had been shaken.
This was the first time since Cyprus's independence in 1960 that AKEL formally had considered entering its own candidate in a presidential election. Within the Party, Supporters of General Secretary Demetris Christofias candidacy fell into three separate groups: those like Christou himself who disagreed with Papadopoulos's Cyprus Problem policy, those who believed that AKEL had paid a high electoral cost for sharing power with DIKO, and those who simply felt it was Christofias's turn to be elected president.
Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides announced 19 January 2008 that after the submission of the candidacies for the election of the President of the Republic of Cyprus in February 2008 and the expiring of the grace period all candidacies submitted are valid and final. Savvides said that in view of this, presidential elections would take place on February 17, 2008 and the printing of the ballots was already underway.
Greek Cypriots went to the polls to choose a president in what is being described as the island's most exciting election in recent history. The election front-runner is incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos, who urged voters to reject a U.N. peace plan designed to re-unite Cyprus in 2004. A majority of Greek Cypriots followed his lead and voted against the plan in a referendum, but Turkish Cypriots voted in favor of it. Many in the international community are afraid that a Papadopoulos win would end any chance of a new series of talks between the two communities. His two main election rivals are Communist Party leader Dimitris Christofias and Ioannis Kassoulides, a right-wing moderate and former foreign minister. All candidates have prioritized reviving stalled peace talks as well as pledging a series of social packages for the aged, children and disabled.
The first round of the presidential elections on February 17 sent home one of the three principal presidential contenders. As soon as results emerged, however, an entirely new campaign commenced, its outcome decided both inside smoke-filled rooms and in the public domain. The excluded candidate and the party or parties nominating him ultimately may decide the victor of this race, provided they can persuade their supporters to follow their lead. In all previous Cypriot presidential elections, the choice was fairly simple: support was given to the highest bidder -- i.e., the candidate who offered the biggest share of ministerial posts in the new government, and other similar benefits in the wider public sector.
Following incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos's failure to advance past the February 17 first round of presidential elections, the major parties supporting his candidacy, the Democratic Party (DIKO) and Socialist EDEK announced their decisions to support Communist AKEL leader Dimitris Christofias. DIKO's decision astonished the Cypriot public since it was widely rumored that the party was set to support DISY-backed Ioannis Kasoulides. In fact, DIKO leader Marios Karoyian switched from Kasoulides to Christofias in a matter of hours, feeling pressure from the Presidential Palace but also attracted by the enticing offer to become House Speaker after Christofias's election.
Archbishop Chrysostomos II, one of Papadopoulos' most fervent supporters, announced on February 20 his support for Kasoulides. In a strong-worded statement after a meeting with Kasoulides, the Archbishop stated that "the Church unreservedly urges the people to go to the polls en masse next Sunday and vote for Kasoulides." He said the two had reached an understanding regarding the Church's role in education and was confident of their cooperation in the next five years. The EOKA 1955-59 fighters' organizations feared that if Christofias rose to power, he may open the files of the assassinations of AKEL members by EOKA in the 1950's and 1960's. Former DISY leader and independent Member of the European Parliament Ioannis Matsis also announced his support for Kasoulides, as did powerful right-wing labor union SEK.
Kasoulides's chance to win the election depended almost entirely on the success of DISY's ongoing effort to divide the electorate into the traditional left and right and to stir up anti-communist sentiments, given AKEL's penchant for occasional broadsides against "Anglo-American imperialism". Given AKEL's close ties with the labor union movement (which count 60 percent of the work force as members) and calls for "safeguarding workers' rights", many expected Christofias to enact policies that favor union interests. However, if the administration of Cyprus' two largest cities by AKEL mayors was any indication, municipal unions have not only not been favored, but been the subject of the mayor's calls for improved efficiency and budgetary rectitude.
Above all else, Christofias had run for president to solve the Cyprus problem. Greek Cypriots considered him a moderate, pro-solution politician whose uninterrupted, productive relations with Turkish Cypriot leaders made him better able to bring the sides together. Supporters were effusive in praise for Christofias, calling him a "visionary" who had the "openness, flexibility, and determination" to reach a solution. Though Greek Cypriots praised the "change in climate" that accompanied Christofias's election and expressed widespread relief at predecessor Tassos Papadopoulos's departure from power, many doubted the new president could overcome fierce loyalty to his party and show real leadership on the Cyprus Problem.
Christofias had undermined the Annan plan to maintain AKEL's position in 2004, and doubted that he would act otherwise now. However, neither did Christofias want to be "the man under whose watch the partition of Cyprus became permanent." Christofias was willing to do "everything possible" to reach a settlement, but Turkey remained the main obstacle. Government spokesmen did not question T/C leader Mehmet Ali Talat's commitment to a solution but rather, Talat's independence from Ankara. On the other hand, Christofias had moderated his rhetoric to shore up Talat's position vis--vis Turkey, for instance reducing his criticism of Turkey's military presence in the north.
The Cypriot business community was confident that despite his education in the old Soviet Union and refusal to disavow his or his party's communist label, President Christofias will keep his promises to maintain the orthodox economic policies that have helped Cyprus grow over the past few decades. Observers agreed that newly-elected president Demetris Christofias was communist only in name, and actually holds economic views closer to those of northern European social democrats. They dismissed Christofias's refusal to change the official ideology of his "Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus" (AKEL) as a desire to "maintain his brand" and "not confuse the electorate."
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