page_title: Demetris Christofias
section_title: Government
hierarchical_section_title: Demetris Christofias / Career / Government
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Церемония официальной встречи. С Президентом Республики Кипр Димитрисом Христофиасом.English: Official welcoming ceremony. With President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias.
context_page_description: Demetris Christofias, also spelled Dimitris Christofias, was a Cypriot politician who served as the sixth President of Cyprus from 2008 to 2013. Christofias was the General Secretary of Akel and was the European Union's and Cyprus' first — and so far only — communist head of state. He won the 2008 Cypriot presidential elections in the second round of voting. Throughout the election campaign, he pledged to restart talks with Turkish Cypriots in order to find a solution to the Cyprus dispute and reunify the island. He also supported the closure of the British military bases on Cyprus.
context_section_description: Christofias proceeded to appoint his government on 29 February 2008. Christofias' first government was a coalition between his own party AKEL, Marios Garoyian's Democratic Party and Yiannakis Omirou's Movement for Social Democracy. Christofias started talks with Mehmet Ali Talat on the reunification of Cyprus as a bizonal federal state, but his hopes for Greek Cypriot approval of such a plan were soon scotched by the nationalists' victory in Northern Cyprus' 2009 parliamentary elections.
  On 28 July 2011, Cyprus's cabinet tendered its resignation bowing to political and public pressure after a massive munitions blast at Evangelos Florakis Naval Base on 11 July 2011 threatened to force the island into asking for an EU bailout. Apparently he was not aware that the power plant was next to the naval base, even though he drove past it each time to go to his village where he had his first job as a barista.  President Christofias asked the people of Cyprus in his speech not to re-live episodes of the 1974 invasion, as crowds of citizens demanded his resignation over his alleged involvement in the blast. Both EDEK and DIKO had withdrawn their support for Christofias by the beginning of August 2011.
  On 3 October 2011, the results of the investigation regarding the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion were released to the public, placing the blame for the incident mainly on President Christofias, holding him “personally and institutionally responsible” for the blast. Christofias rejected the results of the investigation and denied any personal responsibility for the tragedy.
  Six days later, the police report, "prepared by head of CID at police HQ", recommended the prosecution of 12 people; the police rejected claims they were trying to protect the Presidential palace officials with their report, instead asserting that the "police perform their duties “impartially and objectively”". The police also report that they "carefully avoided saying who and how many we propose to take to court, because the final word on who will be brought to justice rests with the AG...in no way did we want to stigmatise someone who the AG may later judge there is insufficient evidence to prosecute”.
  The country's banking crisis that came to a head in 2012 was blamed on Christofias, his lack of ability, and his refusal to take advice from his ministers. In polls conducted shortly before the expiration of his presidential term, he was voted as the worst president to have held office since the foundation of the Republic of Cyprus. Cyprus, a euro area country, asked for financial bailout in June 2012, but talks faltered when President Christofias balked at measures such as privatization.
  Christofias announced on 14 May 2012 he would not seek re-election for a second term in the next year, citing a deadlock in talks on the island's reunification. He left office on 28 February 2013, following the presidential elections he did not take part in. Mr. Christofias was the only Cypriot president not to seek reelection.
caption: Official welcoming ceremony of Dmitry Medvedev by Dimitris Christofias in Nicosia (2010)
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