Nicosia, Cyprus. Negotiations over the allocation of parliamentary committee chairmanships intensified on Wednesday as parties manoeuvred for influence following Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Committee distribution
The talks centre on the distribution of 16 standing parliamentary committees. Under the House’s standing orders, only parties with at least 12 per cent of MPs, or seven seats or more, are formally entitled to form recognised parliamentary groups and claim committee chairmanships.
Following the elections, four parties meet that threshold. Disy secured 17 seats, Akel won 15, while Diko and Elam each won eight seats.
Alma and Direct Democracy entered parliament with four MPs each and are formally below the threshold.
Previous exceptions
Although the seven-seat requirement is written into parliamentary rules, previous Houses have not always applied it strictly.
In the outgoing parliamentary term, Edek MP Marinos Sizopoulos chaired the defence committee although the party had only two seats. Dipa MP Alekos Tryfonides chaired the transport committee with three MPs, while Charalambous Theopemptou of the Ecologists chaired the environment committee with two MPs.
Current position
Disy MP Demetris Demetriou said previous exceptions had existed but indicated that the larger parties are now leaning towards a stricter application of the regulations.
“The majority tends to apply the regulation,” he said, while questioning why some political forces that “always invoke laws and regulations” are now arguing for exceptions.
