On 31 July 1960, just 16 days before Cyprus formally gained independence from Britain, voters elected the first House of Representatives of the new state. The historic ballot produced a 50-member, bicommunal legislature, with Glafcos Clerides later chosen as its first President and Orhan Müderrisoğlu as Vice-President.
On Sunday, 31 July 1960, Cyprus was still officially a British colony. Yet across the island, voters were already choosing the men who would form the parliament of the soon-to-be independent Republic.
The election took place during the final stage of the transition from colonial rule, following the agreements that established the constitutional framework of the Republic of Cyprus. Independence would formally arrive at midnight on 15–16 August, when the last British governor, Sir Hugh Foot, transferred power to President Archbishop Makarios III and Vice-President Fazıl Küçük.
Although commonly described as the first parliamentary election of the newly established Republic, the vote technically preceded the state’s formal creation. Cyprus was electing the institutions that would be ready to operate from the first day of independence.
A parliament designed around two communities
The first House consisted of 50 elected representatives. Under the 1960 constitutional structure, 35 seats, or 70%, were allocated to the Greek Cypriot community and 15, or 30%, to the Turkish Cypriot community.
The seats were also divided among the island’s six electoral districts. Of the Greek Cypriot seats, Nicosia elected 12 representatives, Famagusta and Limassol seven each, Paphos four, Larnaca three and Kyrenia two. The Turkish Cypriot allocation consisted of five seats for Nicosia, three for Famagusta, two each for Limassol, Paphos and Larnaca, and one for Kyrenia.
The elections were conducted under the majority system and, strikingly, on the basis of legislation inherited from the colonial administration. The political institutions belonged to the emerging Republic, but some of the procedures governing their creation still belonged to the system it was replacing.
Official parliamentary records list 239,167 registered voters and 138,218 ballots cast, giving a turnout of 57.79%. There were 43 candidates, while just over 98% of the ballots cast were valid.
The Patriotic Front takes 30 seats
Among the 35 Greek Cypriot seats, the Patriotic Front secured 30, while the left-wing Progressive Party of Working People, AKEL, won five.
The Patriotic Front was not a political party in the modern sense. It had emerged from the transformation of the United Democratic Reconstruction Front and brought together a broad range of forces associated with the political camp supporting Makarios.
Its 30 seats had been distributed among representatives of the Cyprus Farmers’ Union, the Cyprus Workers’ Confederation, former fighters and independent personalities. The alliance was therefore less a tightly organised party than an electoral umbrella created for the transition to independence.
Among those elected under its banner were figures who would dominate Cypriot political and public life for decades, including Glafcos Clerides, Vassos Lyssarides and Lellos Demetriades.
AKEL’s five MPs included its long-serving leader Ezekias Papaioannou, trade unionist Andreas Ziartides, Champis Michaelides, Yangos Potamitis and Chrysis Demetriades. The party gained representation in Nicosia, Famagusta, Limassol and Paphos, but none in Larnaca or Kyrenia.
The result gave the Patriotic Front overwhelming control of the Greek Cypriot representation, while preserving a limited but distinct parliamentary presence for AKEL.
Clerides and Müderrisoğlu lead the first House
The newly elected House first convened on 16 August 1960, immediately after the transfer of power and the formal establishment of the Republic.
At the beginning of that first sitting, the proceedings were temporarily led by the oldest Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot representatives, Charidimos Hadjihambis and Niyazi Manyera. The House then elected Glafcos Clerides as its first President and Orhan Müderrisoğlu, a Turkish Cypriot doctor and representative for Larnaca, as its first Vice-President. Both stood unopposed.
Their positions reflected the constitutional balance on which the new state had been built. The President of the House was elected by the Greek Cypriot representatives, while the Vice-President was elected by the Turkish Cypriot members.
Clerides, then in his early forties, had resigned as justice minister shortly before the parliamentary election to stand as a candidate. He would remain President of the House throughout its first parliamentary period and later become one of the central figures of the Republic’s political history.
A hopeful beginning, but a fragile structure
The first House embodied both the ambition and the complexity of the new Republic.
Its structure was intended to guarantee meaningful participation by both communities and prevent either from exercising unchecked authority. However, it also required separate Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot majorities for certain legislation, including matters involving elections, taxation and municipalities.
The House’s own historical review later described several of these constitutional arrangements as obstacles to the smooth operation of the young state. The safeguards designed to prevent domination could also create deadlock when cooperation between the two sides broke down.
Those difficulties became dramatically apparent following the intercommunal violence of December 1963. The Turkish Cypriot representatives withdrew from the institutions of the Republic, and their parliamentary seats have remained vacant ever since.
The next parliamentary election, originally expected in 1965, did not take place. Instead, the first parliamentary term was repeatedly extended through legislation until new elections were finally held in July 1970. A House elected during the last weeks of colonial rule therefore remained in place for almost a decade.
A ballot that helped create a state
The election of 31 July 1960 was more than a contest for parliamentary seats. It was one of the final steps in turning Cyprus from a colony into an independent state with its own elected institutions.
The system it produced would soon face severe tests, and the bicommunal parliament envisioned in 1960 would function in its original form for only a few years. Yet that first ballot established the House of Representatives as the Republic’s legislative body and introduced many of the personalities who would shape Cypriot politics for generations.
Sixteen days later, Britain transferred power to the new Republic of Cyprus, and the representatives elected on 31 July began writing the first chapter of its parliamentary history.
Also read: House Speakers Cyprus has had since 1960
