The first organized political force on the island was the Communist Party of Cyprus - KKK . Its first nuclei appeared since 1922 and it officially held its founding congress in August 1926. In 1941, leaders of the outlawed (since 1931) KKK and some bourgeois notables founded the Progressive Party of Working People - AKEL. [...]
Political life in Cyprus entered a standstill period after the declaration of independence in August 1960. With the exception of by-elections in 1960 and 1961, for filling seats in the House of Representatives that were left vacant either after deputies became ministers or became vacant for other reasons, no other electoral action took place. [...]
The first parliamentary elections after Cyprus's accession to the European Union were of particular interest for a number of reasons: First of all, Cyprus found itself in a new environment, albeit under paradoxical conditions of admission because of the tensions in relations between Nicosia and Brussels, linked with the rejection of the Annan Plan. [...]
