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Cyprus Political Parties
In the early postindependence period, Greek Cypriot
political
party life was centered around a loose coalition of
Makarios
supporters called the Patriotic Front, plus the communist
party,
AKEL. The front dissolved in the late 1960s; its major
factions
broke into discrete parties. The House of Representatives
afterwards maintained a fairly stable balance among four
parties
that ranged from a communist party to one that was right
of center.
Each of these parties generally received at least 9
percent of the
vote, more than the 5 percent being the minimum required
to win
seats in the legislature.
Three of the four parties so divided the vote that none
ever
won a clear majority. The Republic of Cyprus has a
modified
proportional representation system. There were occasional
proposals
for a simple proportional system, and the electoral law
has been
modified five times in the 1980s.
As of 1990 the Democratic Rally (Dimokratikos
Synagermos--DISY)
was the largest parliamentary party. Created in 1976 and
led by
Glafkos Clerides, it evolved from the Unified Democratic
Party
(Eniaion), which was one of the factions that emerged from
the
Democratic Front in the 1970 parliamentary elections.
DISY's
platform focused on free enterprise economic policies and
a
practical solution to the intercommunal problem. It was
the most
explicitly pro-Western and pro-NATO of Cyprus's parties,
and drew
its support from middle-class professionals, businessmen,
and
white-collar employees. Its shares of parliamentary
election votes
were 24.1 percent in 1976 (but no seats because of the
electoral
law), 31.9 percent in 1981 (twelve seats) and, 33.6
percent in 1985
(nineteen seats).
The Democratic Party (Dimokratiko Komma--DIKO), formed
in 1976,
was seen as the closest to President Makarios and was
headed by his
successor, Spyros Kyprianou. The party platform in its
first
electoral campaign emphasized a nonaligned foreign policy
and a
long-term struggle over Turkish occupation in the north.
Over the
years, this party formed uneasy alliances with the two
more leftist
parties, the communists and socialists. The Democratic
Party won
twenty-one seats in 1976, eight seats in 1981 (19.5
percent), and
sixteen seats in 1985 (27.7 percent). In June 1990,
Kyprianou was
reelected party leader.
The socialist party, the United Democratic Union of
Cyprus
(Enie Dimokratiki Enosis Kyprou--EDEK), generally called
the
Socialist Party--EDEK (Socialistiko Komma), was formed in
1969 by
Makarios's personal physician, Vassos Lyssarides. The
party
advocated socialized medicine and nationalization of banks
and
foreign-owned mines. It was anti-NATO and pro-Arab, and
favored a
nonaligned foreign policy, although those positions seemed
to have
softened in the late 1980s. The party supported enosis
with a
democratic Greece, opposed continued British sovereignty
rights on
the island, but differed from the communists in keeping
its
distance from the Soviet Union. Its appeal was strongest
among
noncommunist leftists, intellectuals, and white-collar
workers. Its
electoral strength was the weakest of the four parties. In
1976
EDEK won four seats, three in 1981 (8.2 percent), and six
in 1985
(11.1 percent).
The communist movement has been a major force on the
island
since the 1920s, often vying with the Church of Cyprus for
the role
of dominant political player. The first communist party
was formed
in 1924 in Limassol, was banned in 1931, and reappeared in
1941
with the creation of the Progressive Party of the Working
People
(Anorthotikon Komma Ergazomenou Laou--AKEL). Banned in the
preindependence emergency from 1955 to 1959, AKEL has been
in every
parliament since 1960. AKEL won nine seats in 1976, twelve
in 1981
(32.8 percent) and, fifteen in the enlarged chamber in
1985, which
represented a drop to 27.4 percent.
Reflecting the serious crisis in the communist movement
since
the collapse of East European regimes in late 1989, AKEL
held
internal conferences in early 1990, but resisted reform
proposals.
As a consequence, AKEL dissidents formed a new leftist
grouping
called the Democratic Socialist Renewal Movement
(Anorthotiko
Dimokratiko Sosialistiko Kinima--ADISOK) in May 1990. The
reformers
included five members of parliament elected in 1985 as
AKEL
leaders. ADISOK selected House Deputy Pavlos Dhinglis as
chairman
and criticized AKEL for undemocratic behavior and an
anachronistic
mentality. It petitioned President Vassiliou for
representation on
the National Council, a forum in which all political
groups met to
discuss political issues.
The parties had held fairly constant positions on key
policy
issues since the second half of the 1970s. AKEL and DISY,
while at
opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, were regarded
as most
flexible and forthcoming on settlement matters. EDEK and
DIKO took
a harder line, pushing for a more punitive approach to
Turkey. On
social and economic policy, the parties' ideological
predilections
prevailed: EDEK and AKEL advocated greater government
support for
workers and free public health services; DISY favored free
enterprise. Some Cypriot analysts believe that DISY and
DIKO have
an overlapping constituency and could merge into a single
centrist
party if DIKO were to drop its far-right support,
estimated at 5
percent of its strength.
Data as of January 1991
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