Election triumph for opposition DISY

2011-05-22

OPPOSITION DISY won yesterday’s parliamentary elections with ruling AKEL trailing behind, as both parties made gains compared with five years ago.

DISY garnered 34.27 per cent of the vote – a 3.75 per cent rise – with AKEL recording a 1.36 per cent gain that put it in second place with 32.67 per cent.

“People sent the government a clear message; to change policy so that Cyprus changes course and breaks out of the deadlocks,” DISY chief Nicos Anastasiades told elated supporters at the party’s headquarters in Nicosia.

Yesterday’s results gave DISY two more seats in parliament, raising the number of DISY lawmakers to 20 in the 56-member legislature.

Go vote, president urges

2011-05-22

PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias urged people to exercise their right to vote, as the Republic of Cyprus today holds, its10th parliamentary elections since its foundation in 1960.

In his message ahead of the elections, the president said they are the most important moment for a democracy: “With their vote, citizens express their view freely and make their choice.”

The universal right to vote is a guarantee for the smooth operation of democracy and its institutions, one of which is parliament, Christofias said.

“I urge all of you to exercise your sacred right to vote,” the president said. “Do not let others decide for you.”

Tales from the Coffeeshop: Feeling sorry for the sad losers

2011-05-22

ELECTION DAY poses a big moral dilemma for all us Sunday piss-artists, who have to write for a living. The dilemma arises from the fact that elections are always held on a Sunday, the day that most weekly columns appear.

According to the election law, on this day, any form of electoral campaigning is banned. This means we could not write that the Eurococks have the most progressive policies on immigration, that Diko is the most idealistic party or that Lasok sounds like a drug for constipation, as this could be construed as an attempt to influence voters.

‘Current healthcare system cannot be sustained for much longer’

2011-05-22

 

National Healthcare Scheme could help government save up to 30 million euros annually.

CYPRUS could achieve significant budget cuts if the government finally decided to go ahead with the long delayed introduction of a national healthcare scheme, Kyriakos Christofi, chairman of the Health Insurance Organisation said.

As overall healthcare spending in the economy rises at a rate of 7.3 per cent annually, healthcare reform could help curb its rate at 6.4 per cent, Christofi told the Sunday Mail in an interview.

Children’s hospital playground comes to fruition

2011-05-22

THE CHILDREN’S playground at Paphos General Hospital which has been funded solely by donations is finally finished after three years.

The project sparked controversy last year when volunteers responsible for the playground were accused of misuse of funds by unnamed Paphos residents.

Project manager Maurice Newman said that saboteurs went as far as complaining to the police, but he stressed that all monies donated to the appeal were accounted for and the police were ‘satisfied.’

“It’s such a shame that some faceless people made allegations on the internet and then went so far as to complain to the police. I wanted to do something nice for the children and families and we got a lot of bad press last year, which was unfortunate,” he said.

Next meeting between leaders and Ban Ki Moon

2011-05-22

THE United Nations officially announced yesterday that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon will next meet with the two leaders, President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, on July 7 in Geneva.

According to the announcement, Ban has stressed to both leaders that they must speed up their progress “to achieve a mutually acceptable and lasting settlement on Cyprus as soon as possible.” He also expects the leaders to take advantage of this meeting as well as the lead up to it, in order “to work jointly and concretely towards reaching that objective.”

Killed in road accident

2011-05-22

A 27-YEAR-old, Panayiotis Michael, was killed yesterday at around 5am on the old Nicosia-Limassol road near Mosfiloti. Police confirmed that Michael was not wearing a seatbelt.

According to police spokesman for Larnaca Christos Andreou, Michael lost control of the car, veering to the right and hitting a dirt barrier, which resulted in the car overturning and Michael being thrown from the car from his open window into the middle of the road.

Fire Services also arrived on the scene and turned the car back over to check whether there was anyone else inside.

The 27-year-old was rushed to Nicosia General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy conducted by Eleni Antoniou today will reveal the exact cause of death.

Road accident results in watermelon spill

2011-05-22

WATERMELONS were strewn all over the Limassol-Nicosia highway near Kornos yesterday morning, when a 34-year-old, Natassa Georgi violently collided into the back of a truck carrying watermelons. The truck, that was split in half from to the collision, belonged to 51-year-old Xenis Kyriakos from Maroni who was heading to the market in Nicosia.

Georgi was injured in the chest but is out of danger and was taken to Larnaca General Hospital. The person in the car with her was not injured and neither were both Kyriakou and his 15-year-old daughter.

The lane was closed on the highway until the watermelons could be cleared away.

Pocket money for some, hard graft for others

2011-05-22

MORE THAN 400 candidates are competing today for 56 seats in the House of Representatives, having gone through a lengthy, and for many, expensive campaign that far exceeded the €30,000 threshold set by the law.

Dinners, cocktails, expensive gifts, billboards, newspaper ads and the internet were all used to lure voters into voting for the 412 candidates, each peddling their political positions, ideology and the change they promise to bring.

While all may claim they are standing out of burning desire to serve the public, cynics are quick to point out the perks that come with the job.

Lawmakers reject that their income is enough to entice someone to run for office for the salary alone.

Groundbreaking care for the elderly

2011-05-22

A new groundbreaking project earmarked for Paphos will see a four star hotel turned into an assisted living venture.

The Laura Beach hotel in Paphos will close in November and undergo a number of essential changes to turn the site into a residence tailor-made to meet the requirements of the older generation.

The project is being undertaken by Estia Living an Anglo-Cypriot group with over 30 years experience in hospitality and healthcare.

Sales and marketing director Duncan Wills told the Cyprus Mail, “this is a big project and the idea was formed after it was identified that there is a lack of continuing care and age care facilities in Cyprus.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.