Nicosia, Cyprus. Newly elected Maronite Cypriot non-voting representative in parliament Petros Nacouzi said his election is both a “great honour” and a “great responsibility” for the island’s Maronite community.
Election result
Nacouzi won 51 per cent of the vote on Sunday, defeating his only opponent, Marios Mavrides, who had served as a voting MP for Disy between 2011 and April. Before entering politics, Mavrides worked as an accountant and co-founded the accountancy firm Forvis Mazars in 2007.
Statement after victory
“My election as Maronite representative in parliament is a great honour, but also a great responsibility. The strength you gave me becomes a commitment to hard work, to unity, and to the continuous fight for our community and for every person who believes in a better tomorrow,” Nacouzi said.
He thanked those who voted for him “from the bottom of my heart” and said, “your support was my greatest strength”.
“We continue together, with respect, consistency, and a vision,” he added.
Replacement in parliament
Nacouzi replaces Yiannakis Moussas, who held the post from 2016 until last month.
Earlier this month, Moussas told President Nikos Christodoulides at a meeting that recent years had brought “a lot of things” in a short period of time to improve conditions for the Maronite Cypriot community.
He said those changes included improved infrastructure in the villages and a “drastic increase” in the number of Maronite Cypriots moving to traditionally Maronite villages in the north, supported by higher government subsidies and incentives.
“You know very well that without our villages, we have no hope of surviving,” he said.
Other community representatives
Nacouzi will sit alongside the non-voting representatives of the Armenian Cypriot and Latin Cypriot communities, Vartkes Mahdessian and Antonella Mantovani, who were both elected unopposed earlier this month.