A European course with a Communist Party: The presidential election in the Republic of Cyprus, February 2003

Article abstract:

The outcome of the February 2003 Cyprus presidential elections confirmed the influence of the communist AKEL (Progressive Party of the Working People). The party's ambitions to assume state responsibilities, expressed since 2001, were fulfilled; its favoured candidate, the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Tassos Papadopoulos, was elected to the presidency. Success in the first round was founded on a strategy of alliances, the persistence of ideological cleavages and party discipline. The new president chairs a cabinet in which for the first time AKEL's ministers participate and form a majority. Papadopoulos is due to complete the EU accession process and also faces the challenge of negotiating a federal solution of the Cyprus question based on a United Nations plan. Meritocracy in domestic affairs is another challenge for the new government in a country largely dominated by the generation of the 1960s.