Democratic Party (Cyprus)

The Democratic Party (Template:Langx, Dimokratikó Kómma (DIKO)) is a Greek-Cypriot nationalist, centrist<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> political party in Cyprus founded in 1976 by Spyros Kyprianou.<ref name="Mirbagheri2009">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Loizos2008">Template:Cite book</ref>

DIKO is variously described as centrist,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> centre-left<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> or centre-right;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> internationally, it is a member of the Progressive Alliance, which groups together mainly centre-left parties.<ref name="Democratic Party">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Among all Cypriot political parties, DIKO claims to be the most loyal follower of the policies of Archbishop Makarios, the founding father of the Republic of Cyprus.<ref>Eric Solsten, ed. Cyprus: A Country Study, US Congress</ref> Its electoral stronghold is the Paphos District.Template:Cn

Overview

As stated in its founding declaration, the Democratic Party proposes 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". In June 2003, under the leadership of Tassos Papadopoulos, DIKO announced it was moving away from its traditional centre-right political positioning,<ref name="Dew2005">Template:Cite book</ref> and declared its intention of moving towards social democracy.<ref name="Dew2005"/>

The party has developed a strict and hardline stance on the Cyprus problem and strongly opposed the Annan plan in 2004. DIKO also supports European integration and a non-aligned foreign policy, even though it showed support for Cyprus joining NATO's Partnership for Peace. The Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK), together with DIKO, constitute the so-called "space in-between" (ενδιάμεσος χώρος) in Cypriot politics, in that they strongly differentiate themselves from both the right-wing Democratic Rally and the left-wing AKEL.<ref>Christophoros Christophorou (2009). The Evolution of Greek Cypriot Party Politics. The Government and Politics of Cyprus. Peter Lang. p. 90.</ref>

From 2000 to 2006, the party was led by Tassos Papadopoulos, who was President of Cyprus from 2003 to 2008. Papadopoulos was succeeded as DIKO leader by Marios Garoyian, who was President of the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011. The party leadership was taken over by Nicolas Papadopoulos, son of Tassos, following an internal ballot in December 2013.<ref name="eKathimerini" >Template:Cite news</ref>

The Democratic Party's traditional third place in legislative elections has allowed to it to assume the balance of power in parliament, where it has alternated between support for the communist Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) and the conservative Democratic Rally (DISY). In the 2011 legislative election, the party won 15.8 percent of the vote and 9 out of 56 seats. The party's decision not to field a candidate in the 2013 presidential election and to back conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades instead was controversial amongst members, and contributed to Marios Garoyian's loss of the leadership to Nicolas Papadopoulos later in the year.<ref name="eKathimerini"/>

During the Seventh European Parliament, the sole DIKO MEP was attached to the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group.<ref name="Studies2013">Template:Cite book</ref>

Party leaders

No.		Leader	Portrait	Term of office		President
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |	1	Spyros Kyprianou	File:Spyros Kyprianou UN (cropped).jpg	1976	2000	1977–1988
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |	2	Tassos Papadopoulos	File:Tassos Papadopoulos.jpg	2000	2006	2003–2008
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |	3	Marios Garoyian	File:Marios Garoyian (cropped).jpg	2006	2013
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |	4	Nikolas Papadopoulos	File:Nikolas papadopoulos 2020.jpg	2013	Incumbent

Election results

Parliament

House of Representatives

Election	Votes			Seats
	#	%	Rank	#	±
1976	With AKEL and EDEKTemplate:Efn			Template:Composition bar compact	new
1981	56,749	19.50	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Decrease 13
1985	88,322	27.65	2nd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Increase 8
1991	66,867	19.55	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Decrease 5
1996	60,726	16.43	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Decrease 1
2001	60,977	14.84	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Decrease 1
2006	75,429	17.92	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Increase 2
2011	63,763	15.76	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Decrease 2
2016	50,922	14.49	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Steady 0
2021	40,395	11.29	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Steady 0

European Parliament

European Parliament

Election	Votes			Seats
	#	%	Rank	#	±
2004	57.121	17.09	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	new
2009	37,625	12.28	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Steady 0
2014	28,044	10.83	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Steady 0
2019	38,756	13.80	3rd	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Steady 0
2024	35,815	9.72	5th	Template:Composition bar compact	Template:Steady 0

External links

• Official website