GREEK CYPRIOT voters once again demonstrated their conservative bent in Sunday's poll by returning to their new parliament most of the members of the old. They ignored three of the four new political parties fielding candidates and made only minor adjustments in the positions of the two current blocs.
The ruling right wing Democratic Rally led by President Glafkos Clerides maintained its strength at 20 seats while its centrist partner, the Democratic Party, secured 10 seats, giving the coalition a comfortable majority in the 56 seat House of Representatives.
The opposition won 26 seats, one more than it had in the outgoing House. The dominant Communist AKEL raised its representation from 18 to 19 seats while the socialist EDEK dropped two seats to five and the sole new entry, the Free Democrats, won two.
This parliament is even more of a family affair than the old. While Ms Kate Clerides, the President's daughter, retained her seat, the former president, Mr Spiros Kyprianou, joined his son Marcus on the Democratic Party bench and another former president, Mr George Vassiliou, and his wife Androulla, represent the Free Democrats.
An amusing addition to the House was the sell promoting, eccentric former state coroner, Dr Marios Matsakis, who should liven enliven debate, particularly if he pursues his feud with the ruling party which dismissed him from his official post.
Since the republic is governed by a presidential rather than a parliamentary system the role of the House is essentially to advise and consent and raise funds. Because its composition has changed so little the new parliament can be expected to continue supporting, the policies of the President, particularly his firm rejection of concessions to the Turkish Cypriots in negotiations on the island's future.
In the absence of an inter communal political settlement which would reunify the island, divided since Turkey occupied the north in 1974, the Greek Cypriots have campaigned successfully for accession to the European Union, in the hope that EU membership would provide protection against Turkish miltary expansion.
