Cyprus (Government and society)

                                                     Government and society

Constitutional framework

The constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, adopted in 1960, provided that executive power be exercised by a Greek Cypriot president and a Turkish Cypriot vice president, elected to five-year terms by universal suffrage, and that there be a Council of Ministers (cabinet) comprising seven Greek Cypriot and three Turkish Cypriot members. It also called for an elected House of Representatives with 50 seats, divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the proportion of 35 to 15 and elected for terms of five years.

 

The constitution, derived from the negotiations in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1959 between representatives of the governments of Greece and Turkey, was not widely accepted by the citizens of the new republic. The Greek Cypriots, whose struggle against the British had been for enosis (union with Greece) and not for independence, regretted the failure to achieve this national aspiration. As a result, it was not long after the establishment of the republic that the Greek Cypriot majority began to regard many of the provisions, particularly those relating to finance and to local government, as unworkable. Proposals for amendments were rejected by the Turkish government, and, after the outbreak of fighting between the two Cypriot communities in late 1963, the constitution was suspended. In the Republic of Cyprus after the Turkish occupation of 1974, the constitution’s provisions remained in force where practicable; the main formal change has been the increase in the number of seats in the House of Representatives to 80, although the 24 seats allocated to Turks have remained vacant.

 

On the Turkish side of the demarcation line, there have been, since 1974, a popularly elected president, prime minister, and legislative assembly, all serving five-year terms of office. A new constitution was approved for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) by its electorate in 1985.

 

Local government in the Republic of Cyprus is at the district, municipal, rural municipality, and village levels. District officers are appointed by the government; local councils are elected, as are the mayors of municipalities.