President of the Movement of Social Democrats EDEK Yiannakis Omirou is the new President of the House of Representatives.

He was elected in the third election at the House plenary with 28 votes from the MPs of EDEK, the Democratic Rally and the European Party, and Democratic Party MP Zacharias Koulias.

Outgoing President of the House and President of the Democratic Party Marios Garoyian and Green Party MP George Perdikis were also candidates.

In the first and second elections, Garoyian received 27 votes from the MPs of the Democratic Party and AKEL, while Perdikis received one vote and withdrew his candidacy.

According to the regulations, in the third election the candidate with most votes is elected President of the House.

In his speech after he took over the presidency of the House, Omirou expressed his appreciation to Garoyian for an impeccable term, and said he takes over with a deep sense of responsibility to serve the interests of the country and the people, with foremost the solution of the Cyprus problem, the termination of the Turkish occupation and the restoration of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people.

“Given the continuing Turkish intransigence, which leads to stagnation and deadlocks in the current negotiating process, we declare our steadfast refusal to accept the results of the Turkish crime and our insistence on a democratic, functional and viable solution, on the basis of the principles of international and European law,” he said.

He also sent a message to the Turkish Cypriots and welcomed their demonstrations against the occupation guardianship of Turkey, and called on Turkey and those encouraging or tolerating her “to understand that forming conditions of safety, peace, stability and cooperation in the broader region demands the lifting of the illegality and the solution of the Cyprus problem.”

Omirou assured that “we will work as the legislative authority for the harmonious cooperation of the three authorities of the Cypriot state,” and also assured that “we will work collectively and responsibly to restore the credibility of politics” and the “alarming phenomenon of abstention by the citizens.”

He also assured that the House will work “with a sense of responsibility to address the adverse effects” of the global financial crisis on the economy of Cyprus.