The new composition of the House of Representatives gives the centre-right bloc a clear advantage in the race for the presidency of the body.
DISY, with 17 MPs, and DIKO, with eight, together hold 25 seats, compared with 23 seats for a possible alliance of AKEL, ALMA and Direct Democracy.
ELAM had said before the elections that it would not give a vote of confidence either to Annita Demetriou or to a candidate of the left. In practice, this means that even if ELAM abstains in the final round, DISY and DIKO can elect a House president, as they hold a majority of seats.
The key question now is whether Demetriou or Nicolas Papadopoulos will seek the presidency. This is the main scenario around which the next stage of political manoeuvring is expected to develop.
Which of the two becomes the candidate and the clear favourite for the House presidency will depend largely on wider developments in the centre-right political space. The equation will also have to include the government of President Nikos Christodoulides.
The centre-right signal
Christodoulides, in his post-election statement, gave a clear signal on the political landscape and the new composition of parliament.
He highlighted the major issues of the economy, foreign policy and security, seeking to underline the common ground on which cooperation could be built, at least at the parliamentary level, with DISY and DIKO.
He was also careful when asked about his relationship with DISY. He repeated what he had said after casting his vote, referring to the government’s commitment to the ideological and political direction of social liberalism.
“Based on this approach, we will continue, through cooperation, just as we have done so far, to implement policies that society, through the messages of today’s electoral process, endorses. These messages encourage us to continue with even greater determination,” he said.
“The tax reform, to mention only some of what we heard during the election campaign, responsible foreign policy, our country’s European and western orientation, security, economic stability and growth, effective management of migration, as well as many other issues, are judged in practice and endorsed by citizens.
“Always based on our social contract with the Cypriot people, our governance programme and our ideological and political framework of social liberalism, not slogans and empty promises, away from populism, petty politics and toxicity,” he added.
Christodoulides said cooperation with the new House of Representatives would be substantive, sincere and institutionally responsible.
“Our government will continue to work to achieve convergences where there are common concerns, common priorities and common understandings of the public interest, without horse-trading and based on common ideological and political convergences,” he said.
He also referred to the Cyprus problem and spoke of the need for unity and institutional cooperation.
Asked about parties left outside parliament, Christodoulides said “DIPA and EDEK deserved, and have proved that they deserved, to be in the new House of Representatives. And we see that they failed to make it into the new House by a few dozen, a few hundred votes. They should have been there; they deserved to be in parliament.”
He avoided commenting on DISY when asked about Demetriou and her statement on the party’s relationship with the government.
