The pro-EU communist party AKEL has carried off a narrow victory in the parliamentary elections in Cyprus after a close-run campaign. It saw AKEL running neck-and-neck with the main government party, the right-wing Democratic Rally (DISY) of President Glafcos Clerides.
AKEL won Sunday's election with 34.71 per cent of the vote, compared to 34.1 per cent for DISY. Despite the narrow victory, this is AKEL's biggest share of the vote in its 75-year history and a major boost ahead of the presidential election in 2003. AKEL, which has been out of government for a decade, becomes the largest party with 20 of the 56 seats in parliament. However, yesterday's results will not bring an immediate change in government under the island's presidential system.
The new parliament, which meets on June 7th, will have a key role in amending legislation in preparation for EU accession. Cyprus plans to conclude negotiations on all 31 membership issues by early next year and expects to be included in the next wave of enlargement from 2003 onwards.
Because of the mountain of work ahead, the chief negotiator for EU membership, Dr George Vassiliou, suggested parliament should hold regular sessions over the summer, when it normally takes a long recess. The former president said the results were a "disappointment", but pledged "government policies will continue because the policy towards Europe is important to us".
AKEL is a strong advocate of rapprochement with Turkish Cypriots, and seeks a federal reunification of the island divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974. In his victory speech, AKEL's general-secretary, Mr Demetris Christofias, made a point of referring to Turkish Cypriots as "compatriots".
However, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot republic, Mr Rauf Denktash, claimed yesterday that the election result shows "Greek Cypriots have no intention of finding a solution". He noted that those elected to parliament included Mr Sotiris Sampson, son of the former Greek Cypriot coup leader, Nicos Sampson, who died earlier this month.
Cyprus was assured by the EU in 1999 that its division is not an obstacle to accession, and Greece has warned it will block EU enlargement if Cyprus is excluded over its political situation.
The Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, did not comment directly on the election yesterday, but said the admission of Cyprus into the EU without a "permanent solution" to the island's division would "create extremely negative" consequences.
However, Greece said it was confident the new Cypriot parliament would continue the island's drive for EU member ship. "We are certain the new parliament in Cyprus will continue . . . to help the country's common effort, which is the entry into the European Union," the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Panos Beglitis, said in Athens.