Progressive Party of Working People Ανορθωτικό Κόμμα Εργαζόμενου Λαού Emekçi Halkın İlerici Partisi | |
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| Abbreviation | ΑΚΕΛ AKEL |
| General Secretary | Stefanos Stefanou[1] |
| Founded | 15 August 1926 (99 years ago) (1926-08-15) |
| Headquarters | Nicosia |
| Newspaper | Haravgi |
| Student wing | Progressive Student Movement [el] |
| Youth wing | EDON |
| Women's wing | POGO |
| Labour wing | PEO |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing[10] tofar-left[11] |
| European affiliation | Party of the European Left (observer) |
| European Parliament group | The Left in the European Parliament |
| International affiliation | IMCWP |
| Colours | Red |
| House of Representatives | 15 / 56 |
| European Parliament | 1 / 6 |
| Municipal Councils | 123 / 478 |
| Website | |
| akel.org.cy | |
TheProgressive Party of Working People (Greek:Ανορθωτικό Κόμμα Εργαζόμενου Λαού,Anorthotikó Kómma Ergazómenou Laoú, ΑΚΕΛ orAKEL;Turkish:Emekçi Halkın İlerici Partisi) is aMarxist–Leninist[5]communist party[2] inCyprus.
AKEL is one of the two major parties in Cyprus, and it supports afederal solution of the internal aspect of theCyprus problem and it places particular emphasis onrapprochement with theTurkish Cypriots. It supported entry into theEuropean Union with certain reservations. Initially supportive of theAnnan Plan in 2004, the AKEL ultimately opposed the plan because theUN Security Council did not provide guarantees on post-reunification security.[12]
As a strong supporter of welfare benefits and nationalization, AKEL successfully put into practice several social measures to support the economic welfare of Cypriots during theGreat Recession, such as increasing low pensions by 30% and strengthening the welfare benefits given to university students to €12 million per year. Overall, €1.2 billion were spent on welfare benefits during the first three years that AKEL was in power, with various improvements made in social welfare provision.[13][14] The party has been in opposition since the2013 election. The party's candidate was defeated in the2018 presidential election against the incumbent president. For the2023 presidential election, the party supported independent candidateAndreas Mavroyiannis, who was also defeated.[15]
It was founded in 1926 with the nameCommunist Party of Cyprus (CPC;Greek:Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Κύπρου,Turkish:Kıbrıs Komünist Partisi). The communist party set as its aim not only the struggle against exploitation, but also the independence of Cyprus from British rule. The party became illegal in 1931 when the British colonial government-imposed restrictions on civil rights following theCyprus revolt riot. In 1941, leading members of the underground communist party and others founded AKEL. In the first municipal elections in 1943 (before that mayors were appointed) AKEL candidates became mayors ofLimassol (Ploutis Servas) andFamagusta (Adam Adamantos).
Unlike its predecessor, AKEL was not againstEnosis. Instead, AKEL supported a gradual process, starting off with a constitution and self-government, while Cyprus would remain a colony, leading to self-determination and Enosis. After the failure of the consultative assembly in 1949 to grant a constitution acceptable to the Cypriot members, AKEL changed line, supporting immediate Enosis with no intermediate stages.
During the late 1950s, AKEL was opposed to the violent tactics followed by the anti-British resistance movement ofEOKA. EOKA accused AKEL of being collaborators with the British, even though AKEL had also been illegal since 1955. Several AKEL members were assassinated by EOKA at the time for being "traitors", including AKEL supporter Savas Menikou, who wasstoned to death. AKEL denounced EOKA's leadership as being anti-communist, as its leaderGeorge Grivas had fought against the communist side during theGreek Civil War. Grivas later foundedEOKA B, which supported the 1974 coup d'état following his death.
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About 1958, the Turkish Cypriot nationalist organizationTMT started forcingTurkish Cypriots members of AKEL to leave. Editor of a workers' newspaperFazıl Önder was killed and the head of the Turkish bureau ofPEO (AKEL's trade union) Ahmet Sadi moved to theUK to save his life.
In the first presidential elections for independent Cyprus, AKEL backed Ioannis Kliridis (father ofGlafkos Klerides) againstMakarios III. The lastTurkish Cypriot to be a member of the central committee of AKEL,Derviş Ali Kavazoğlu, was killed by TMT in 1965.
In the mid 1960s theU.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 10,000 (3.25% of the working age population).[16]
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At thelegislative elections on 27 May 2001, the party won 34.7% of the popular vote and 20 out of 56 seats. After this election, AKEL's General Secretary, Dimitris Christofias, was elected as President of theHouse of Representatives, serving in that post until 2006. His election was supported by AKEL,Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK), and theDemocratic Party (DIKO).
AKEL is a member of theEuropean United Left - Nordic Green Left political group in theEuropean Parliament, and it is considered to be moderatelyEurosceptic. Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, and in the2004 European parliament election, AKEL elected two members (Adamos Adamou andKyriacos Triantaphyllides).
AKEL remained the largest political party in the2006 Cypriot legislative election; however, the party lost two seats, winning 18 seats with 31.31% of the vote.
In the second round presidential election held on 24 February 2008, Dimitris Christofias, General Secretary of AKEL, was elected President of Cyprus. Christofias won 53.36% of the vote against his right-wing opponentIoannis Kasoulidis' 46.64%.[17]
On 21 January 2009,Andros Kyprianou was elected general secretary of the party with 54.3% in the central committee election.
In the2009 election to the European Parliament, AKEL received 34.9% of the votes, and again elected two out of Cyprus' six members (Kyriacos Triantaphyllides andTakis Hadjigeorgiou). In the2014 election, they held their two seats with a reduced 27% of the vote.
In the22 May 2011 legislative election AKEL received 32.67% of the votes, and elected 19 out of the 56 members of parliament.[18]
In an interview with Athens News Agency, party leader Andros Kyprianou said that AKEL was considering Cyprus' exit from theeurozone, saying, "It is an option on the table", but that it will require "study and planning".[19]
In the2013 presidential election,Stavros Malas, who was supported by AKEL lost by a margin of 42.52% to 57.48%.[20] In the 2018 presidentialelection, conservative presidentNicos Anastasiades won a second five-year term with 56 percent of the vote. The AKEL-backed independent candidate, Stavros Malas, lost the election with 44 percent.[21]
In 2016 legislativeelection AKEL was the second largest party with 25.7 percent of the vote, 7 percent less than the previous election.[22]
Niyazi Kızılyürek was elected to the European Parliament in2019 for AKEL, making him the first Turkish-Cypriot to enter the European Parliament and thus breaking what was considered a taboo on the island. AKEL advocates the creation of a federal state in which Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots would live together.[23]
The party's youth wing is theUnited Democratic Youth Organisation, which was founded in 1959.
| Election | Votes | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | Rank | # | ± | |
| 1960 | 51,719 | 35.0 | 2nd | 5 / 50 | new |
| 1970 | 68,229 | 34.1 | 1st | 9 / 35 |  4 |
| 1976 | WithDIKO andEDEK | 9 / 35 |  0 | ||
| 1981 | 95,364 | 32.8 | 1st | 12 / 35 | 3 |
| 1985 | 87,628 | 27.4 | 3rd | 15 / 56 | 3 |
| 1991 | 104,771 | 30.6 | 2nd | 18 / 56 | 3 |
| 1996 | 121,958 | 33.0 | 2nd | 19 / 56 | 1 |
| 2001 | 142,648 | 34.7 | 1st | 20 / 56 | 1 |
| 2006 | 131,237 | 31.1 | 1st | 18 / 56 |  2 |
| 2011 | 132,171 | 32.7 | 2nd | 19 / 56 | 1 |
| 2016 | 90,204 | 25.7 | 2nd | 16 / 56 | 3 |
| 2021 | 79,913 | 22.3 | 2nd | 15 / 56 | 1 |
| Election | Votes | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | Rank | # | ± | |
| 2004 | 93,212 | 27.9 | 2nd | 2 / 6 | new |
| 2009 | 106,922 | 34.9 | 2nd | 2 / 6 | 0 |
| 2014 | 69,852 | 27.0 | 2nd | 2 / 6 | 0 |
| 2019 | 77.241 | 27.5 | 2nd | 2 / 6 | 0 |
| 2024 | 79,163 | 21.5 | 2nd | 1 / 6 | 1 |
| Year | Candidate | Photograph | 1st Round | 2nd Round | Elected | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Result | Votes | % | Result | ||||
| 1959 | Ioannis Clerides | 71,753 | 33.2 | 2nd place | Lost in first round |  | |||
| 1968 | Archbishop Makarios III | .jpg) | 220,911 | 96.3 | 1st place | Elected in first round |  | ||
| 1973 | no opponent | | |||||||
| 1978 | Spyros Kyprianou | .jpg) | no opponent | | |||||
| 1983 | 173,791 | 56.5 | 1st place | Elected in first round | | ||||
| 1988 | George Vassiliou | .jpg) | 100,748 | 30.1 | 2nd place | 167,834 | 51.6 | 1st place | |
| 1993 | 157,027 | 44.2 | 1st place | 176,769 | 49.7 | 2nd place | | ||
| 1998 | George Iacovou | 160,918 | 40.6 | 1st place | 200,222 | 49.2 | 2nd place | | |
| 2003 | Tassos Papadopoulos |  | 213,353 | 51.5 | 1st place | Elected in first round | | ||
| 2008 | Demetris Christofias |  | 150,016 | 33.3 | 2nd place | 240,604 | 53.4 | 1st place | |
| 2013 | Stavros Malas | .png) | 118,755 | 26.9 | 2nd place | 175,267 | 42.5 | 2nd place | |
| 2018 | 116,920 | 30.2 | 2nd place | 169,243 | 44.0 | 2nd place | | ||
| 2023 | Andreas Mavroyiannis | .jpg) | 117,551 | 29.6 | 2nd place | 189,335 | 48.0 | 2nd place | |
[...] 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).
This is admittedly a rough division that focuses on the largest parties in Cyprus: left-wing AKEL on the Greek Cypriot side...
The AKEL communist party had earlier suggested it might throw its weight behind the Annan plan and help turn around the widespread antipathy of the Greek-Cypriot south. But today its leadership said it had decided to oppose the plan because the UN security council had not provided guarantees on post-reunification security.
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| Defunct | |
European Parliament group:The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL | |||||||||
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European political foundation:Transform Europe | |||||||||
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