Democratic Party (Cyprus)

Democratic Party Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα
Leader	Marios Karoyian
Founded	1976
Headquarters	Nicosia, Cyprus
Ideology	Centrism
International affiliation	None
European affiliation	None
European Parliament Group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Official colours	Blue
House of Representatives	9 / 59
European Parliament	1 / 6
Website
diko.org.cy
Politics of Cyprus Political parties Elections

The Democratic Party (Greek: Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα, Dimokratikó Kómma; DIKO) is a centrist political party in Cyprus, founded in 1976 by Spyros Kyprianou. As it is reported in its founding statement (manifesto), the Democratic Party proposes to the Cypriot society the political philosophy of "social centrism", which constitutes “a total of attributes and values that offer in the state social cohesion, political prospect, improvement of terms of life and development of human culture, that should be shared between the entire population and not only between the privileged teams of the population".

From 2000 until 2006, the party was led by Tassos Papadopoulos, who was President of Cyprus before Dimitris Christofias. It was the third-largest party in Parliament, with 9 of 56 seats. Papadopouls was succeeded by Marios Karoyian following elections within the Democratic Party. In the elections of 21 May 2006, the party won 17.9% and 11 out of 56 seats.

Papadopoulos was defeated in his bid for re-election in the February 2008 presidential election, placing third in the first round, and subsequently DIKO announced its support for AKEL candidate Dimitris Christofias in the second round.^[1]

Presidents

• 1976-2000 Spyros Kyprianou
• 2000-2006 Tassos Papadopoulos
• 2006-present Marios Karoyian

References

1. ^ "Communist chief gains edge in Cyprus poll". AFP (news.com.au). February 21, 2008. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23250278-1702,00.html. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Official website
• Cyprus Elections & Politics

Cyprus

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Cyprus

Constitution Cyprus dispute Annan Plan referendum President Dimitris Christofias House of Representatives Political parties Elections Presidential: 2003, 2008 Legislative: 2006, 2011 Districts Foreign relations Politics of the European Union

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