THE THREE new members of the House of Representatives who will replace the members recently elected as MEPs were officially announced yesterday in two separate ceremonies in Limassol and Nicosia.
Andreas Kyprianou of DISY is replacing MEP Eleni Theocharous, the ceremony for which took place in Limassol.
Stelios Ieronymides of DIKO takes MEP Antigoni Papadopoulou’s seat, while Panikos Hambas of AKEL will now assume control of MEP Takis Hadjigeorgiou’s position. They were sworn in at Nicosia.
Ieronymides and Hambas were officially proclaimed members of parliament during a ceremony in Nicosia attended by the President of the House Marios Garoyian, while Kyprianou’s approval was made official by the District Officer of Limassol Anastasia Mavrelli.
After the ceremony, Garoyian welcomed the new MPs, saying: “I’m sure, that with the highest sense of responsibility, these three will serve the Republic of Cyprus, will honour the Constitution… and achieve the goal of all of us in Parliament have in servicing the Cypriot people and community.
The new MPs reciprocated their welcome with speeches underlining their priorities, and affirming their allegiance to serving the country with the highest degree of responsibility and honour. Hambas of AKEL took the opportunity to highlight the plight of the enclaved community of Greek Cypriots living in the north, the serious agricultural and environmental problems which the island currently faces, and the issue of overpricing, which he said would need to be examined accurately “so that we don’t end up living in a neo-liberal system.”
Kyprianou focused his speech on stressing how he would work to promote the interests of rural people and the upgrading of Limassol, while Ieronymides thanked his family for the support they had given him, and stressed that he would fulfil his role as an effective civil servant by seeking a strengthened relationship between citizen and state.
Despite the warm words of welcome, the new appointments did not pass off without controversy, with ex-AKEL politician Kyriakos Tirimos creating a mild stir by telling members of the press that he would be taking AKEL to court over their failure to name him as the recipient of the seat vacated by Hadjigeorgiou. Tirimos, who had been expelled from the cadres of AKEL after a disciplinary infraction last year, claims that because he was the runner up in the parliamentary elections of 2006, he is the rightful heir to the seat now being occupied by Hambas.
His assertion that because he was a paid-up member of the party meant that he was still liable for the position was neutralised last month when party officials voted to fully abrogate any connection he may have still held with them. However, in a bizarre twist and in an apparent act of political tribalism, Tirimos has hired DIKO veteran Andreas Angelides as his lawyer in the case against the party which he wants to represent in parliament.
Commenting on the new appointments, Head of AKEL Andros Kyprianou refrained on commenting too much on the issue, merely saying that “everything we need to say will be said in court”, while adding that the whole affair had saddened him.
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