Cyprus-Forum.com

[Alexandros Lordos]

Let's assume that we have two options on how the presidency issue will be resolved in a future peace plan:

a) A collective presidency like we had in the Annan Plan. There would be four GC and two TC members of the presidential council, all seeking election together as one team, and decisions would be taken collectively, by majority vote in which at least one GC and one TC agree.

b) A rotating presidency, as follows. A team of one GC and one TC would seek election together for the presidency, and the winning team will share the presidency as follows: The GC would be president for 40 months, in which period the TC would be Vice President and Foreign Minister, while the TC would be president for 20 months, during which period the GC would be Vice President and Foreign Minister. All executive decisions would be taken by the President alone, whether he is GC or TC, except for a very short list of critical decisions where the consensus of both the President and the Vice President would be required.

I know there might be other options for the presidency, but to keep the vote results simple I only offer the above two for now. If you wish, feel free to propose other alternatives.

[cypezokyli]

alexandre imo the first thing that we have to accept is that the power will be shared. thats the major problem and not the sytem itself i believe.

i am not sure how it would work in the aplan but i guess that the case of gc and tc not beeing elected in a team was possible. i mean it would be possible to have two "left-wing" tc and 4 "right-wing" gc in the coucil (even though i dont believe these things exist in cyprus. the left and the right).
that would ofcource be the case for the rotating presidency i guess.

in any case, as we see ourself firstly as gc or tc, rather than left or right there is not so much point in discussing that longer.

if i am not mistken, in the collective presidency the president was changing after some months. so the president even inbetween the gc would have to work under his ministers after a while. somehow i dont like that. i would prefer i president who can change a minister who is not performing well. (even though once again the cyprus reality is different)

if it was indeed like that then i would go for the rotating presidency.
where i still have a question.
how will the ministries be allocated?
by some law?
would it be left to the president and vice president to go-decide?
or each president chooses his ministers, in his own time?
or some other way?

[Dhavlos]

I prefer the proposal on a rotating presidency, where the candidates are elected as a team....( im sure ive said this before LOL)

it would make their 'reign' much more consistent, as they would be likely to have the same political standpoint, plus it would almost make the idea of a nationalist leader irrelevent, because i somwhat doubt a nationalist TC, and a nationalist GC would get together!

[Piratis]

For me both are the same and can both be acceptable or unacceptable depending on how those "presidents" will get elected.

Would the team of GC(s)/TC(s) be elected by all Cypriots with equal voting power? (e.g. If the first team team wins 300.000 votes and the second team wins 200.000 votes then the first team gets elected no matter what race were the people that voted for it)

If this is the case the both proposals are acceptable.

alexandre imo the first thing that we have to accept is that the power will be shared.

I don't think that there is anybody that can claim that power should not be shared. What is not accepted is that a community with an 18% share in the population should have a 50% power share.

[cypezokyli]

a re pirati.

in principle u r right when it comes to democracy.

the fact is that the veto power was given to tcs since 1960 (rightly or wrong it doesnt make a difference)

since then rightly or wrong (wrong imo) turkey has attacked and occupies half of cyprus.
do you thing that there is going to be any offer removing the right of veto of the tc? even more when they have 37% of the land?

i just dont think that it is possible to avoid the tc veto if we want a solution.

[Piratis]

the fact is that the veto power was given to tcs since 1960

The 1960 agreements were a compromise that actually was quite favorable to the TCs.

If the TCs want to return to those agreements then great. However they can not ask from us to make additional compromises without making compromises of equivalent magnidute themselves.

[cypezokyli]

the only problem is that after 1974 their bargaining position has increeased, while time is working against us and in favor of partition.

as a consequence any plan will be more favorable for the tcs than the 1960 agreements.

imo we can accept that or stay the way we are.

[Piratis]

the only problem is that after 1974 their bargaining position has increased, while time is working against us and in favor of partition.

as a consequence any plan will be more favorable for the tcs than the 1960 agreements.

Don't you think that this is unfair?

Justice and fairness is the only way to achieve a true solution and a lasting peace. Otherwise any kind of "solution" will just be part of the problem.

The balance of power changes. If the relationship between the two communities is determined by this balance of power then the circle of blood will never end. However if the solution is based on democratic principles with full respect of human rights and would create equal Cypriot citizens and not 2 conflicting communities then this is a solution that would create in Cyprus a normal country that can last for long time.

[cypezokyli]

piratis wrote:

Don't you think that this is unfair?

as i wrote you just above, i am afraid that we either accept that or we stay as we are. let aside the clock which is running constantly

perhaps all it comes down to, is how we evaluate the future.

fairness means different things for different people.
and if you want my opinion it is unfair.
but the world around us is unfair.
so i can accept some unfairness, if that would mean a peacefull country moving in the future.

Justice and fairness is the only way to achieve a true solution and a lasting peace

it could be.
it could also be the only sure way that keeps the status quo

[Melis]

very well put Cypezokyli. It's only with attitudes like yours that we will ever see a united Cyprus.