EDEK Socialist Party ΕΔΕΚ Σοσιαλιστικό Κόμμα | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | EDEK |
| Leader | Nikos Anastasiou |
| Founder | Vasos Lyssaridis |
| Founded | 1969; 56 years ago (1969) |
| Headquarters | Nicosia |
| Student wing | AGONAS |
| Youth wing | EDEK Youth |
| Women's wing | Socialist Women's Movement |
| Labour wing | DEOK |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats |
| International affiliation | Progressive Alliance Socialist International |
| Colors | Red, Green, Gold |
| House of Representatives | 3 / 56 |
| European Parliament | 0 / 6 |
| Municipal Councils | 27 / 443 |
| Website | |
| edek.org.cy | |
TheEDEK Socialist Party (Greek:ΕΔΕΚ Σοσιαλιστικό Κόμμα,romanized: EDEK Sosialistiko Komma,EDEK) is aGreek Cypriot nationalist,[5]social-democratic[6][1][2]political party in Cyprus.
The party was founded byVassos Lyssarides in 1969 as theUnited Democratic Centre Union, EDEK (Greek:Ενιαία Δημοκρατική Ένωση Κέντρου,romanized: Eniaia demokratiki enosi kentrou, ΕΔΕΚ). It was originally a strongly anti-imperialistdemocratic socialist party with roots in the struggle againstBritish colonial rule, influenced by the philosophies of theAndreas Papandreou left-wing faction withinGeorgios Papandreou'sCentre Union,[7][8]PASOK,[8] and the1968 movement.
EDEK, and Lyssarides personally, enjoyed very good relations withThird World socialist leaders and governments,[9] includingHafez al-Assad ofSyria,Muammar Gaddafi of Libya[2] andGamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.[5]
Since the early 1980s, EDEK has evolved into a European-style social-democratic party. It has however not given up its nationalist and "enotic" orientations.[10] The party changed its name to "Movement for Social Democracy" (Greek:Κίνημα Σοσιαλδημοκρατών) in 2000.[11]
EDEK is led byMarinos Sizopoulos and is a member of theParty of European Socialists andSocialist International.
Members were drawn from the committee for re-establishment of democracy in Greece, and fighters fromLyssaridis's group during the 1964 clashes betweenGreek andTurkish Cypriots. Lyssaridis was the personal physician of ArchbishopMakarios III, the first president of independent Cyprus, whom the party supported. The party's name was inspired by Greek'sCentre Union (EK) ofGeorgios Papandreou. It positioned itself in "the space inbetween" (neither left nor right).[12] EDEK had links to the internationalNon-Aligned Movement and was opposed to the right-wingColonels' regime in Greece.[13] Many of the party's members were part of the armed resistance to the15 July 1974 coup against Makarios. The leader of the youth section of the party,Doros Loizou, was shot and killed inan attempt to murder Lyssaridis in August 1974.
Several members of the party's youth section (EDEN) withTrotskyist tendencies were expelled between 1979 and 1984, who then formed Aristeri Pteryga (Left Wing).[14]
During the late 1990s, EDEK negotiated with several minor parties, planning to merge all political forces between the communist AKEL and the conservative DISY into a major centrist party. It merged with two small groups, the Renewal Movement and the Independent Personalities Group, in February 2000. This was marked by its name change to "Movement for Social Democracy" (KISOS), which was also intended to bring the party closer to European social democratic parties in terms of both values and appearance. However, only two months after the merger, the members of the Renewal Movement left, citing a "lack of trust" vis-à-vis old EDEK members. Therefore, basically "the new KISOS was the old EDEK".[11]
In the2001 general elections EDEK won 6.5% of the votes cast and 4 of the 56 seats in theHouse of Representatives of Cyprus. EDEK was one of the most outspoken opponents of theAnnan Plan for the reunification of Cyprus, which was voted on, and ultimately rejected by the Greek Cypriot community in the2004 referendum.[15] In theelections of 21 May 2006, the first since the referendum, the party increased its vote share to 8.9%, and won 5 out of 56 seats.
EDEK backedDimitris Christofias of theProgressive Party of Working People (AKEL) in the second round of theFebruary 2008 presidential election. On the proposal of EDEK's Political Bureau, 109 members of its Central Committee voted in favor of supportingChristofias, five voted against, and two abstained.[16] In February 2010 EDEK quit from the government coalition due to its dispute concerning the decisions ofDimitris Christofias in the Cyprus Problem.[17][18]
The party leader,Yiannakis Omirou, was elected as President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus, following the2011 general elections, in which EDEK obtained 8.93% of the votes and five seats in Parliament.
In theFebruary 2013 presidential election, EDEK backed the independent candidateYiorgos Lillikas. The former minister of foreign affairs inTassos Papadopoulos' cabinet. In the second round, EDEK decided not to back any other candidate, neither the DISY candidateNicos Anastasiades, or AKEL candidate Stavros Malas.
In January 2015, House PresidentYiannakis Omirou resigned from EDEK's leadership. In March he was succeeded by his deputyMarinos Sizopoulos.[19]
In November 2022, the party's name was changed to EDEK Socialist Party.[20]
| Election | Votes | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | Rank | # | ± | |
| 1970 | 12,996 | 8.3 | 4th | 2 / 35 | new |
| 1976 | WithDIKO andAKEL | 4 / 35 |  2 | ||
| 1981 | 23,772 | 8.2 | 4th | 3 / 35 |  1 |
| 1985 | 35,371 | 11.1 | 4th | 6 / 56 | 3 |
| 1991 | 37,264 | 10.9 | 4th | 7 / 56 | 1 |
| 1996 | 30,033 | 8.1 | 4th | 5 / 56 | 2 |
| 2001 | 26,767 | 6.5 | 4th | 4 / 56 | 1 |
| 2006 | 37,533 | 8.9 | 4th | 5 / 56 | 1 |
| 2011 | 36,113 | 8.9 | 4th | 5 / 56 |  0 |
| 2016 | 21,732 | 6.2 | 4th | 3 / 56 | 2 |
| 2021[a] | 24,022 | 6.7 | 5th | 4 / 56 | 1 |
| Election | Votes | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | Rank | # | ± | |
| 2004 | 36,075 | 10.79 | 5th | 0 / 6 | new |
| 2009 | 30,169 | 9.85 | 4th | 1 / 6 | 1 |
| 2014[b] | 19,894 | 7.68% | 4th | 1 / 6 | 0 |
| 2019 | 29,715 | 10.58 | 4th | 1 / 6 | 0 |
| 2024 | 18,681 | 5.07 | 6th | 0 / 6 | 1 |
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)communist AKEL (Progressive Party of Working People—1926), social democratic EDEK (United Democratic Union of the Centre—1969), centre-right DIKO (Democratic Party—1976) and right-wing DISY (Democratic Rally—1976).
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)| House of Representatives | |
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