Cypriot presidential election, 2003
Encyclopedia
Presidential elections were held in Cyprus
on 16 February 2003. The election was dominated by the ongoing negotiations over the Annan Plan for Cyprus
. Incumbent
President Glafkos Klerides
was largely in favour of the plan, while leading opposition candidate Tassos Papadopoulos
wanted substantial amendments before he would accept it. Papadopoulos won the election in the first round after winning over 51% of the vote. Voter turnout was 90.5%.
party, had been elected in 1993 and 1998 and called for Cypriots to elect him for a further limited 16 months as President to give him time to try and reach a deal with Turkish Northern Cyprus on reunifying the island. He wanted other candidates to unite behind him and agree to form a national unity government
to try and reach a settlement, however this was not agreed to by his opponents.
Klerides main opponent was expected to be Tassos Papadopoulos
, leader of the Democratic Party
. Papadopoulos was seen as being more hardline in negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots and had previously accused Klerides of selling out the interests of Greek Cypriots in negotiations. Papadopoulos was backed by the biggest party in Cyprus, the communist Progressive Party of Working People
and had been clear favourite in the election until Klerides announced he would stand again.
Klerides campaign was hurt by the decision of his close aide and attorney general
Alecos Markides
to also stand in the election as an independent
. Markides was standing as he believed Cyprus needed a younger, more modern, leader than the 83 year old Klerides. His candidacy however was seen as likely to split the support of centre-right
voters and thus assist Papadopoulos in the election.
A further seven candidates stood in the election including one, Costas Kyriacou, calling for free love
.
s during the campaign
showed Papadopoulos with a significant lead over Klerides. The ongoing negotiations over the Annan Plan for Cyprus
dominated the campaign with Klerides being seen as more favourable to the plan than many voters and this contributed to the more sceptical Papadopoulos pulling ahead. Papadopoulos called for the Annan plan to be amended and said that Klerides was giving away too much in negotiations. However Papadopoulos emphasized that he would negotiate for a deal if he was elected and ran television adverts
which attempted to reduce voter concerns over his previous nationalist stance.
The election campaign was low key with Klerides refusing to campaign for the election. On the day before the election the final polls showed Papadopoulos with a 12% lead over Klerides, with a reasonable chance of winning over 50% of the vote and avoiding the need for a second round.
was high at over 90%.
The leader of Turkish North Cyprus Rauf Denktash described the result as disappointing but Papadopoulos said he would begin talks on the United Nations
plan within a few days of the election.
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
on 16 February 2003. The election was dominated by the ongoing negotiations over the Annan Plan for Cyprus
Annan Plan for Cyprus
The Annan Plan was a United Nations proposal to resolve the Cyprus dispute, reuniting the breakaway Northern Cyprus with the Republic of Cyprus. The proposal was to restructure Cyprus as the "United Cyprus Republic", which would be a federation of two states. It was revised a number of times before...
. Incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
President Glafkos Klerides
Glafkos Klerides
Glafcos Ioannou Clerides is a Greek-Cypriot politician and the fourth President of the Republic of Cyprus.Clerides was the eldest son of the lawyer and statesman Ioannis Clerides....
was largely in favour of the plan, while leading opposition candidate Tassos Papadopoulos
Tassos Papadopoulos
Tassos Nikolaou Papadopoulos was a Cypriot politician. He served as the fifth President of the Republic of Cyprus from February 28, 2003 to February 28, 2008.His parents were Nicolas and Aggeliki from Assia. He was the first of three children...
wanted substantial amendments before he would accept it. Papadopoulos won the election in the first round after winning over 51% of the vote. Voter turnout was 90.5%.
Candidates
On 3 January 2003 the incumbent President Glafkos Klerides said that he would be standing for re-election in the upcoming presidential election, after previously saying he would not stand again. Klerides, from the Democratic RallyDemocratic Rally
The Democratic Rally , is a centre-right political party in Cyprus, led by Nicos Anastasiades.The party was founded on 4 July 1976 by veteran politician Glafkos Klerides. Clerides served as Cyprus president from 1993 until 2003....
party, had been elected in 1993 and 1998 and called for Cypriots to elect him for a further limited 16 months as President to give him time to try and reach a deal with Turkish Northern Cyprus on reunifying the island. He wanted other candidates to unite behind him and agree to form a national unity government
National unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity, or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency.- Canada :During World War I the Conservative government of Sir...
to try and reach a settlement, however this was not agreed to by his opponents.
Klerides main opponent was expected to be Tassos Papadopoulos
Tassos Papadopoulos
Tassos Nikolaou Papadopoulos was a Cypriot politician. He served as the fifth President of the Republic of Cyprus from February 28, 2003 to February 28, 2008.His parents were Nicolas and Aggeliki from Assia. He was the first of three children...
, leader of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (Cyprus)
The Democratic Party is a centrist political party in Cyprus, founded in 1976 by Spyros Kyprianou. As it is reported in its founding statement , the Democratic Party proposes to the Cypriot society the political philosophy of "social centrism", which constitutes “a total of attributes and values...
. Papadopoulos was seen as being more hardline in negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots and had previously accused Klerides of selling out the interests of Greek Cypriots in negotiations. Papadopoulos was backed by the biggest party in Cyprus, the communist Progressive Party of Working People
Progressive Party of Working People
The Progressive Party of Working People is a communist party in Cyprus. It supports an independent, demilitarized and non-aligned Cyprus, and a federal solution of the internal aspect of the Cyprus problem. It places particular emphasis on rapprochement with the Turkish Cypriots. It supported...
and had been clear favourite in the election until Klerides announced he would stand again.
Klerides campaign was hurt by the decision of his close aide and attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Alecos Markides
Alecos Markides
Alekos Markidis was born in Nicosia and studied Law in Athens in 1966. He was elected member of the Cypriot parliament from 1985 until 1995. He served as Attorney-General from 1995-2003.-References:...
to also stand in the election as an independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
. Markides was standing as he believed Cyprus needed a younger, more modern, leader than the 83 year old Klerides. His candidacy however was seen as likely to split the support of centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
voters and thus assist Papadopoulos in the election.
A further seven candidates stood in the election including one, Costas Kyriacou, calling for free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
.
Campaign
Opinion pollOpinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
s during the campaign
Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...
showed Papadopoulos with a significant lead over Klerides. The ongoing negotiations over the Annan Plan for Cyprus
Annan Plan for Cyprus
The Annan Plan was a United Nations proposal to resolve the Cyprus dispute, reuniting the breakaway Northern Cyprus with the Republic of Cyprus. The proposal was to restructure Cyprus as the "United Cyprus Republic", which would be a federation of two states. It was revised a number of times before...
dominated the campaign with Klerides being seen as more favourable to the plan than many voters and this contributed to the more sceptical Papadopoulos pulling ahead. Papadopoulos called for the Annan plan to be amended and said that Klerides was giving away too much in negotiations. However Papadopoulos emphasized that he would negotiate for a deal if he was elected and ran television adverts
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
which attempted to reduce voter concerns over his previous nationalist stance.
The election campaign was low key with Klerides refusing to campaign for the election. On the day before the election the final polls showed Papadopoulos with a 12% lead over Klerides, with a reasonable chance of winning over 50% of the vote and avoiding the need for a second round.
Results
The results saw Papadopoulos winning over 51% of the vote compared to almost 39% for Klerides, meaning that he was elected in the first round. Markides trailed in third place with 6.6% of the vote, while Kyriakou won 0.44% but claimed that he really won 73%. Voting was compulsory and so voter turnoutVoter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was high at over 90%.
The leader of Turkish North Cyprus Rauf Denktash described the result as disappointing but Papadopoulos said he would begin talks on the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
plan within a few days of the election.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tassos Papadopoulos Tassos Papadopoulos Tassos Nikolaou Papadopoulos was a Cypriot politician. He served as the fifth President of the Republic of Cyprus from February 28, 2003 to February 28, 2008.His parents were Nicolas and Aggeliki from Assia. He was the first of three children... |
AKEL/DIKO Democratic Party (Cyprus) The Democratic Party is a centrist political party in Cyprus, founded in 1976 by Spyros Kyprianou. As it is reported in its founding statement , the Democratic Party proposes to the Cypriot society the political philosophy of "social centrism", which constitutes “a total of attributes and values... |
213,353 | 51.51 |
| Glafkos Klerides Glafkos Klerides Glafcos Ioannou Clerides is a Greek-Cypriot politician and the fourth President of the Republic of Cyprus.Clerides was the eldest son of the lawyer and statesman Ioannis Clerides.... |
Democratic Rally Democratic Rally The Democratic Rally , is a centre-right political party in Cyprus, led by Nicos Anastasiades.The party was founded on 4 July 1976 by veteran politician Glafkos Klerides. Clerides served as Cyprus president from 1993 until 2003.... |
160,724 | 38.80 |
| Alecos Markides Alecos Markides Alekos Markidis was born in Nicosia and studied Law in Athens in 1966. He was elected member of the Cypriot parliament from 1985 until 1995. He served as Attorney-General from 1995-2003.-References:... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
27,404 | 6.62 |
| Nicos Koutsou | New Horizons New Horizons (Cyprus) The New Horizons was a political party in Cyprus.At the legislative elections, 27 May 2001, the party won 3.0 % of the popular vote and 1 out of 56 seats. In 2005, the party merged with politicians from Evropaiki Dimokratia to form Evropaiko Komma.... |
8,771 | 2.12 |
| Costas Kyriacou | Independent | 1,840 | 0.44 |
| Andreas Efstratiou Andreas Efstratiou Andreas Efstratiou is a business man from Paphos. He was candidate also for the presidential elections of 2003 in Cyprus and received 606 votes . He was also a candidate for the 2008 presidential election and received 713 votes .-References:... |
Independent | 606 | 0.15 |
| Adamos Katsantonis | Independent | 558 | 0.13 |
| Christos Iosifides | Independent | 391 | 0.09 |
| Georgios Mavrogenis | Independent | 337 | 0.08 |
| Pantelis Sofokleous | Independent | 209 | 0.05 |
| Invalid/blank votes|17,497 | – | ||
| Total | 431,690 | 100 | |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver | |||