Cyprus parliament dissolves today, April 23, with general elections set for May 24 and the first session of the newly elected House scheduled for June 4 at 4:00pm, under Article 67 of the Constitution.
House President Annita Demetriou will preside over the dissolution ceremony this afternoon, after the plenary completes its remaining legislative business and considers a number of presidential referrals.
Departing MPs will each have three minutes to address the House before dissolution.
At least 18 MPs bow out
At least 18 sitting MPs will not contest in the election. From DISY: Efthymios Diplaros, Averof Neofytou, Nicos Tornaritis, Charis Georgiades, Onouphrios Koullas and Kyriacos Chatzigiannis will not stand again. Nikos Sykas will also not appear on the ballot after the party removed him from its list.
From AKEL: Andros Kyprianou, Andros Kafkalias and Kostas Kosta will not stand, nor will Christos Christofias. From DIKO: Pavlos Mylonas and Christos Orfanides are not standing. From EDEK: Ilias Myrianthous and Marinos Sizopoulos will not contest the election, nor will Kostis Efstathiou, who had been sitting as an independent following his expulsion from EDEK.
Charalambos Theopemptou of the Ecologists and DEPA President Marios Garoyian have also announced their departure from parliament.
Marios Mavridis is leaving his current seat but will stand for the Maronite community representative position and is not counted among the 18 departing members.
Party-switchers
Several MPs who are standing again will do so on different party tickets. Irini Charalambidou moves from AKEL to ALMA, while Andreas Apostolou, formerly of EDEK, and Michalis Giakoumis, formerly of DEPA, have both moved to DIKO.
Today’s session and what comes next
Today’s session is not necessarily the last. Under the constitution, parliament can reconvene after dissolution if circumstances require. This happened in 2021, when the House last dissolved on April 23 and reconvened on May 20 to consider five presidential referrals.
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