President Nikos Christodoulides on Sunday evening lamented the electoral wipeout faced by Dipa and Edek, two of the three parties which support his government, saying that both parties deserved to win seats.

“Dipa and Edek deserved to be in the new House, and have proven it, and we see that they did not make it into the new House by tens or hundreds of votes. They should have been there. They deserved to be in parliament,” he said.

Nonetheless, he expressed satisfaction that the day’s election “was completed smoothly, in a way which honours our democracy, the institutions of the Republic of Cyprus, and, above all, the Cypriot people”.

“I would like to express my gratitude to all those who worked with professionalism, responsibility, and a sense of duty to properly organise and conduct the parliamentary elections,” he said, before adding that “today belongs to democracy and to the people”.

He added that “our democracy spoke through its people”, and that “the Cypriot people’s verdict is absolutely respected”, before congratulating all those who stood for election.

“Our democracy is strengthened through participation, dialogue, arguments of substance, and on respect for different points of view,” he said, before offering “cooperation” to those who were elected.

He said that his government, despite losing two of the three parties in parliament which had supported it to date, “will continue to work consistently to implement its programme”.

This, he said, will be done “for a stronger economy, for more opportunities for the next generation, for a more effective state, for social cohesion, for reforms which will improve people’s everyday life, and for a more resilient, more modern, and more reliable Cyprus”.

As such, he said that his government will continue its work “through collaboration”, and added that despite the fact that two of the three parties which support his government lost all their seats in parliament, “society, through the messages of today’s electoral process, applauds” the policies his government has implemented.

“These messages encourage us to continue with even greater determination,” he said.

He then listed the policies his government is pursuing, including tax reform, his government’s “responsible foreign policy” and “European and western orientation”, as well as “security, economic stability and development, effective management of immigration, as well as others”.

It is those policies, he said, which were “applauded by the people” at Sunday’s election.

He went on to say that with the election now over, his government’s “cooperation” with the new parliament will be “substantial, sincere, and institutionally responsible”.

“Our government will continue to work to achieve convergences where there are common fears, common priorities, and common perceptions of public interests, without horse-trading and on the basis of common ideological and political convergences,” he said.

He added that “the people judge us all by our ability to provide solutions, implement decisions, and respond to the Cypriot people’s expectations”.

This, he said, is particularly true “in a period of increased challenges, with the Cyprus issue remaining our top national priority, with the need to continue the great effort of reform, and with international and regional developments directly affecting our homeland”.

“Unity of purpose and institutional cooperation are a national necessity and what the Cypriot people demand of us all,” he said.

“The elections are over. The day ahead requires collective responsibility and effort to progress our country. With absolute respect for the popular verdict, with full awareness of our responsibility, and with a firm commitment to the Cypriot people’s interests, we will continue to work for a stronger, more modern, more European Cyprus,” he said.

He added that his government will now “continue and intensify our efforts even more to bring about policies which garner results, which strengthen the country’s credibility, and respond to society’s real needs”, and do so “for a Cyprus which moves forward with self-confidence, unity, and prospects”.