President of Cyprus

President of the Republic of Cyprus
Πρόεδρος της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας (Greek) Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı (Turkish)
Presidential standard of Cyprus
Incumbent Nikos Christodoulides since 28 February 2023
Executive branch of the Government of Cyprus
Style	Mr President (informal) His Excellency (diplomatic)
Status	Head of state Head of government Commander-in-chief
Member of	European Council
Residence	Presidential Palace
Seat	Nicosia, Cyprus
Appointer	Popular vote
Term length	Five years, renewable once consecutively
Constituting instrument	Cypriot Constitution
Formation	16 August 1960 (1960-08-16)
First holder	Makarios III
Deputy	Vice President of Cyprus (de jure) President of the House of Representatives (de facto)
Salary	119,000 EUR annually
Website	www.presidency.gov.cy

The president of Cyprus, officially the president of the Republic of Cyprus, is the head of state and the head of government of Cyprus, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Cypriot National Guard. The office was established by the Constitution of 1960, after Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

The combination of the role of head of state and that of government is unique among member states of the European Union, making Cyprus the only EU state with a full presidential system of government.

The constitution, which was negotiated during the London and Zürich Agreements that divided power between the Greek Cypriot community and Turkish Cypriot community, requires the president to be a Greek Cypriot. Other requirements are that the officeholder must be over the age of thirty-five and elected directly in a two-round system. The president's term lasts for five years, and in accordance with the thirteenth amendment to the constitution, no person can serve more than two consecutive terms.

Nikos Christodoulides is the eighth and current president of Cyprus, having assumed office on 28 February 2023.

Powers and limitations

According to the Constitution, the president of the Republic is the head of state, and is elected for a five year term through direct, universal and secret ballot.

Among the most important powers granted to the president of the Republic by the Constitution, are the power to put into effect laws passed by the House of Representatives or the right of veto to prevent legislation passed by the House from being enacted, if a given law concerns issues of the external policy, security and defence of the Republic, the right to refer such legislation back to the legislative body, as well as the right to refer it to the Supreme Court for the purposes of checking its constitutionality.

In addition, the president convenes the meetings of the Council of Ministers and draws up their agenda, while maintaining the right of veto for council meetings as well, provided that they concern issues of external policy, security and defence of the Republic, as well as the right to refer them back to the aforementioned body.

Today, under the doctrine of necessity, the president appoints eleven ministers, who constitute the country's Cabinet, and with the exception of the powers reserved by the constitution explicitly for the president and vice president of the Republic, exercise the executive authority of the state.

Furthermore, the Constitution grants the president the power to unilaterally appoint independent state officials and Supreme Court judges.

There are two ways for the president of the Republic to be removed from office. In the first case, they must be convicted by the Supreme Court for high treason, following prosecution by the prosecutor general and the deputy prosecutor general, which has to be approved by a resolution of at least three-quarters of members of parliament. In the second case, they must be convicted of a dishonorable offense or an offense of moral turpitude, following prosecution by the prosecutor general and the deputy prosecutor general, which has to be approved by the president of the Supreme Court.

List of officeholders

Key

^§ Elected unopposed
† Died in office

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term			Political Party	Elected
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Archbishop Makarios III (1913–1977)	16 August 1960	15 July 1974 (deposed)	13 years, 333 days	Independent	1959 1968 1973[§]
–		Nikos Sampson (1935–2001) Acting De facto	15 July 1974	23 July 1974	8 days	Progressive Front	–
–		Glafcos Clerides (1919–2013) Acting	23 July 1974	7 December 1974	137 days	Eniaion	–
(1)		Archbishop Makarios III (1913–1977)	7 December 1974 (restored)	3 August 1977 †	2 years, 239 days	Independent	–
2		Spyros Kyprianou (1932–2002) Acting until 28 February 1978	3 August 1977	28 February 1988	10 years, 209 days	DIKO	1978[§] 1983
3		George Vassiliou (born 1931)	28 February 1988	28 February 1993	5 years	Independent	1988
4		Glafcos Clerides (1919–2013)	28 February 1993	28 February 2003	10 years	DISY	1993 1998
5		Tassos Papadopoulos (1934–2008)	28 February 2003	28 February 2008	5 years	DIKO	2003
6		Demetris Christofias (1946–2019)	28 February 2008	28 February 2013	5 years	AKEL	2008
7		Nicos Anastasiades (born 1946)	28 February 2013	28 February 2023	10 years	DISY	2013 2018
8		Nikos Christodoulides (born 1973)	28 February 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 303 days	Independent	2023

Timeline

Latest election

Main article: 2023 Cypriot presidential election

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Nikos Christodoulides	Independent	127,309	32.04	204,867	51.97
	Andreas Mavroyiannis	Independent	117,551	29.59	189,335	48.03
	Averof Neofytou	Democratic Rally	103,748	26.11
	Christos Christou	National Popular Front	23,988	6.04
	Achilleas Demetriades	Independent	8,137	2.05
	Constantinos Christofides	New Wave – The Other Cyprus	6,326	1.59
	Georgios Colocassides	Independent	5,287	1.33
	Alexios Savvides	Independent	2,395	0.60
	Charalampos Aristotelous	Independent	866	0.22
	Celestina de Petro	Independent	575	0.14
	Andronicos Zervides	Independent	341	0.09
	Ioulia Khovrina Komninou	United Republican Party of Cyprus	330	0.08
	Andreas Efstratiou	Independent	299	0.08
	Loukas Stavrou	National Communitarian Reconstruction	165	0.04
Total			397,317	100.00	394,202	100.00
Valid votes			397,317	98.27	394,202	96.95
Invalid votes			5,333	1.32	8,428	2.07
Blank votes			1,671	0.41	3,986	0.98
Total votes			404,321	100.00	406,616	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			561,273	72.04	561,273	72.45
Source: Central Electoral Service, Central Electoral Service

Statistics

#	President	Date of birth	Age at inauguration (first term)	Time in office (total)	Age at retirement (last term)	Date of death	Longevity
1	Mouskos, MichailMakarios III	1913081313 August 1913(13 August 1913)	47 00347 years, 3 days	16 32016 years, 211 days	65 17663 years, 355 days	197708033 August 1977	23,36663 years, 355 days
2	Kyprianou, SpyrosSpyros Kyprianou	1932102828 October 1932(28 October 1932)	44 31044 years, 310 days	10 17810 years, 178 days	55 12355 years, 123 days	2002031212 March 2002	25,33769 years, 135 days
3	Vassiliou, GeorgiosGeorgios Vassiliou	1931052020 May 1931(20 May 1931)	56 28456 years, 284 days	05 0005 years, 0 days	61 28461 years, 284 days	Living	34,19093 years, 221 days (Living)
4	Clerides, GlafcosGlafcos Clerides	1919042424 April 1919(24 April 1919)	73 31073 years, 310 days	10 00010 years, 0 days	83 31083 years, 310 days	2013111515 November 2013	34,53994 years, 205 days
5	Papadopoulos, TassosTassos Papadopoulos	193401077 January 1934(7 January 1934)	69 05269 years, 52 days	05 0005 years, 0 days	74 05274 years, 52 days	2008121212 December 2008	27,36874 years, 340 days
6	Christofias, DemetrisDemetris Christofias	1946082929 August 1946(29 August 1946)	61 18361 years, 183 days	05 0005 years, 0 days	66 18366 years, 183 days	2019062121 June 2019	26,59472 years, 296 days
7	Anastasiades, NicosNicos Anastasiades	1946092727 September 1946(27 September 1946)	66 15466 years, 154 days	01 199 66810 years, 0 days	76 15476 years, 154 days	Living	28,58178 years, 91 days (Living)
8	Nikos Christodoulides	6 December 1973	49 years, 85 days	01 199 6681 year, 303 days (Ongoing)	Incumbent	Living	18,82651 years, 21 days (Living)

See also

• List of colonial governors and administrators of British Cyprus
• Politics of Cyprus
• List of Cypriot governments

External links

• Presidency of Cyprus