The allocation of committee chairmanships in Cyprus’ new House of Representatives remains unsettled, with parties locked in negotiations over both the number of committees and which parties will control them.
What now appears settled, however, is that only parties with recognised parliamentary groups will chair committees. This means DISY, AKEL, DIKO and ELAM remain in the running, while ALMA and Direct Democracy are left without any chairmanships.
Party representatives told the Cyprus News Agency that discussions are still open on whether some parliamentary committees should be merged. The final number of committees could determine how many chairmanships each party receives. If agreement is reached, the proposed allocation could be announced as early as Thursday, although it will still need approval by the plenary on June 18 before the committees begin legislative work.
Discussions over possible mergers
DISY parliamentary spokesman Dimitris Dimitriou said his party recognises the need to reduce the number of committees and is examining how, and whether, this can be done. He said DISY will initially seek to retain the chairmanships it held in the previous House, namely Legal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Institutions and Health.
He added, however, that DISY was not taking a rigid position and remained open to exchanges if this helped produce an agreement. On the basis of its electoral strength, he said, DISY would be entitled to six chairmanships if the current 16 committees remain in place, but would be prepared to give up the sixth in order to avoid friction.
On whether smaller parties could chair committees, Dimitriou said there had never been a real issue for discussion, arguing that parties with fewer than seven MPs and no parliamentary group cannot hold committee chairmanships.
Asked whether DISY would object to specific committees going to particular parties, he said there were cases that would be better avoided, citing Education or Human Rights as examples in relation to ELAM. He said the first aim would be consultation and consensus, but if that failed, the parties would have to find another way through the deadlock.
AKEL pushes for fewer committees
AKEL parliamentary spokesman Giorgos Loukaides said that, under all scenarios being examined, whether the House has 14, 15 or 16 committees, AKEL is entitled to five chairmanships and DIKO to two. He stressed that the allocation is based on the parties’ vote shares, not simply on the number of MPs elected.
According to Loukaides, if the current 16 committees remain, DISY would receive six chairmanships, AKEL five, ELAM three and DIKO two. If the number is reduced to 14, DISY and AKEL would receive five each, while ELAM and DIKO would receive two each. He claimed that DISY and DIKO are seeking an arrangement under which both DIKO and ELAM would receive three chairmanships.
AKEL favours reducing the number of committees to 14, mainly for reasons of functionality. Loukaides said MPs often face overlapping committee meetings, making it difficult to attend and contribute meaningfully. He also argued that Cyprus has a high number of committees in relation to the size of its Parliament.
AKEL intends to seek the same chairmanships it held in the previous legislature, namely Agriculture, Labour, Interior and Refugees. Instead of Human Rights, however, it will seek Environment, which Loukaides said AKEL considers historically linked to the party, despite being chaired in the last parliamentary term by Greens MP Charalambos Theopemptou.
Loukaides also made clear that AKEL will not vote in favour of any ELAM committee chairmanships, citing Germany’s approach to the AfD as an example. He said the party’s position remains one of opposing the normalisation of the far right.
DIKO and ELAM set out their claims
DIKO parliamentary spokesman Panikos Leonidou said his party will seek to retain the committees it chaired in the previous House: Finance, Education and Audit. Those posts were held respectively by Christiana Erotokritou, Chrysanthos Savvides and Zacharias Koulias.
Leonidou said nothing should be treated as final before the Selection Committee meets. On the exclusion of parties without parliamentary groups from chairmanships, he said the issue had been closed under the House rules.
For ELAM, MP Sotiris Ioannou said the party is seeking the chairmanships of the Education, Environment and Defence committees. He said consultations would continue, as other parties are also interested in some of the same committees. ELAM, he added, wants Parliament to begin functioning as soon as possible.
Ioannou said the final number of committees will be examined on Thursday, adding that ELAM is now leaning towards keeping the existing number. Linos Papayiannis will represent the party on the Selection Committee.
So far, no party has publicly claimed the Transport Committee, while the ad hoc Committee on Demographics is considered to have already ceased operating from the previous parliamentary term.
ALMA challenges the exclusion
ALMA MP Irene Charalambides said she submitted a memorandum during Tuesday’s meeting of party leaders on the rule that limits committee chairmanships to parliamentary groups, meaning parties with at least seven MPs.
She argued that previous practice had allowed exceptions, with committee chairmanships given in the past to DIPA, the Greens and, on an ad hoc basis, to ELAM. She said the larger parties now had the power to impose a different approach.
Asked whether ALMA would take legal action, Charalambides said this would be decided by the movement’s secretariat. She said ALMA wanted a legal discussion on the issue, arguing that House rules should not be invoked selectively and that legal views should have been heard on such a serious matter.
On the proposal to reduce the number of committees, Charalambides said ALMA believes the workload is already too heavy to justify mergers. She strongly opposed any move that would effectively abolish the Human Rights Committee by merging it with Legal Affairs, arguing that such a step would be especially problematic at a time when human rights protections are under pressure.
Direct Democracy wants committee presence
For Direct Democracy, Diana Constantinidou, who attended Tuesday’s party leaders’ meeting, said the rules provide that smaller parties cannot chair committees. She said, however, that the party wants to participate in all committees as a member.
She added that discussions are continuing on the scheduling of committee meetings, so that all MPs can take part in the work of the House as effectively as possible.
Source: CNA
