Cyprus parliament elects president from newly formed small party

Both of Cyprus' two largest parliamentary parties failed in securing the post of president of the House of Representatives when the new 56-member chamber held its inaugural session on Thursday, following a May 22 vote.

The prestigious post went to Demetris Syllouris, a deputy of the newly formed Solidarity Movement party, but with a long parliamentary experience.

He was repeatedly elected deputy with the center-right ruling Democratic Rally party (DISY) since 1991.

He became an independent deputy in 2004 and was elected again in 2005 as leader of the European Party which he formed after he split up with DISY. He dissolved his party just weeks before the election in May to join the new Solidarity party which was formed by a DISY deputy in the European Parliament.

The President of the House of Representatives is the second highest official in the hierarchy of the Republic of Cyprus, deputizing for the President when out of the country.

Under the Constitution he will also automatically succeed the President should the post become vacant for any reason and lead the country to presidential elections within 45 days.

The two largest parties, ruling party DISY and the left-wing AKEL party, contested the post in all three rounds of voting, but they failed to get the required majority.

On the third vote, when only a simple majority was needed to elect a speaker, all 18 DISY deputies sided with the three Solidarity Movement deputies to give Syllouris the post of House President.

Syllouris is 63 and a civil engineer by profession. He is married and has three daughters and a son. Endit