Cypriot parliament dissolved ahead of elections in May

The Cypriot parliament dissolved itself of Thursday, opening the way for a vote in May to elect a new chamber, parliament's outgoing speaker Yiannakis Omirou said.

Parliamentary elections are due to take place on May 22 to fill the 56 seats of the legislative.

Omirou said he will not be a candidate in the elections, after having served 30 years as deputy, of which the last five as speaker of the House of Representatives.

Fourteen other outgoing deputies will also not seek re-election.

The dissolution of parliament came at the end of its five year term, during which it was instrumental in passing legislation for the application of a three-year austerity program, after Cyprus was pulled back from bankruptcy in a 2013 bailout.

The May 22 elections will be contested by seven parties, but analysts say that only four of them will possibly gain parliamentary seats after the electoral limit for a seat was increased from 1.8 percent to 3.6 percent of valid votes.

None of the other four parties is expected to gain an absolute majority, but this will not affect the stability of the government under Cyprus' presidential system which does not require a parliamentary majority for the president to stay in office.

Interest is centered on how voters will react to the aftermath of the 2013 economic crisis which pushed the standard of living for most Cypriots back to the mid-1990s.

Source: XINHUA