Akel says empty House seats should go to the next in line

Main opposition Akel said Monday it favoured a proposal for vacant parliamentary seats to go to a party’s next in line, paving the way for the return of a Solidarity MP who had been denied because of constitutional issues raised after the 2016 election.

Giorgos Papadopoulos is set to return after parties amended the constitution last Friday and a proposal supported by opposition parties for the seat to go to the next in line instead of holding a by-election as ruling Disy suggested.

The proposal is expected to be discussed by the plenum this Friday.

The matter arose shortly after the 2016 legislative elections when Eleni Theocharous ran for MP on Solidarity’s ticket while maintaining a position in the European Parliament as MEP.

After her election as Limassol MP with 3,788 votes, she opted to keep her place as MEP, leaving her seat to the party’s runner-up Papadopoulos, who received 767 votes.

But Theocharous did so before the official affirmation so she did not have to give up her seat in the EU parliament.

The decision was appealed and the supreme court twice found that it would be unconstitutional under the provisions that existed until last Friday for Papadopoulos to take the seat.

 

 

 

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.