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The EDEK Socialist Party (, EDEK) is a Greek Cypriot nationalist,
social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...
political party in Cyprus.


Overview

The party was founded by
Vassos Lyssarides Vassos Lyssarides (; 13 May 1920 – 26 April 2021) was a Cypriot politician and physician who was a central figure in the politics of Cyprus after the island's independence. Biography Lyssarides was born in 1920 in the village of Pano Lefkara. ...
in 1969 as the United Democratic Centre Union, EDEK (, ΕΔΕΚ). It was originally a strongly anti-imperialist
democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...
party with roots in the struggle against
British colonial rule The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts establish ...
, influenced by the philosophies of the
Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...
left-wing faction within
Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou (, ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as the prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964 ...
's
Centre Union The Centre Union () was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a political party in Greece in the 1960s which held office from 1963 to 1965 and wa ...
,
PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was Two-party system, one of the two major ...
, and the 1968 movement. EDEK, and Lyssarides personally, enjoyed very good relations with
Third World socialist Third World socialism is an umbrella term for many movements and governments of the 20th century—all variants of socialism—that have taken place in numerous less-developed countries. There have been many leaders of this practice and political ...
leaders and governments, including
Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...
of
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
,
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...
of Libya and
Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
of Egypt. Since the early 1980s, EDEK has evolved into a European-style social-democratic party. It has however not given up its nationalist orientations. The party changed its name to "Movement for Social Democracy" () in 2000. EDEK is led by
Marinos Sizopoulos Marinos Sizopoulos (; born 17 July 1957 in Nicosia) is a Cypriot politician, who is President of the Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) since 2015, and serves as a member of the House of Representatives since 2016, having previously served in ...
and is a member of the
Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...
and
Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...
.


History


Formation and early years

Members were drawn from the committee for re-establishment of democracy in Greece, and fighters from Lyssaridis's group during the 1964 clashes between
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and
Turkish Cypriots Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...
. Lyssaridis was the personal physician of Archbishop
Makarios III Makarios III (born Michael Christodoulou Mouskos; 13 August 1913 – 3 August 1977) was a Greek Cypriots, Greek Cypriot prelate and politician who served as Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus from 1950 to 1977 and as the first president o ...
, the first president of independent Cyprus, whom the party supported. The party's name was inspired by Greek's
Centre Union The Centre Union () was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a political party in Greece in the 1960s which held office from 1963 to 1965 and wa ...
(EK) of
Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou (, ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as the prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964 ...
. It positioned itself in "the space inbetween" (neither left nor right). EDEK had links to the international
Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...
and was opposed to the right-wing Colonels' regime in Greece. Many of the party's members were part of the armed resistance to the 15 July 1974 coup against Makarios. The leader of the youth section of the party,
Doros Loizou Doros Loizou (Δώρος Λοΐζου) (February 23, 1944—August 30, 1974) was a Cypriot poet and leader of the youth section of EDEK (the Movement for Social Democracy). He was killed in the attempted assassination of Vassos Lyssarides. L ...
, was shot and killed in an attempt to murder Lyssaridis in August 1974. Several members of the party's youth section (EDEN) with
Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
tendencies were expelled between 1979 and 1984, who then formed Aristeri Pteryga (Left Wing). During the late 1990s, EDEK negotiated with several minor parties, planning to merge all political forces between the communist AKEL and the conservative DISY into a major centrist party. It merged with two small groups, the Renewal Movement and the Independent Personalities Group, in February 2000. This was marked by its name change to "Movement for Social Democracy" (KISOS), which was also intended to bring the party closer to European social democratic parties in terms of both values and appearance. However, only two months after the merger, the members of the Renewal Movement left, citing a "lack of trust" vis-à-vis old EDEK members. Therefore, basically "the new KISOS was the old EDEK".


21st century

In the 2001 general elections EDEK won 6.5% of the votes cast and 4 of the 56 seats in the
House of Representatives of Cyprus The House of Representatives ( ; ) is the national unicameral legislature of the Cyprus, Republic of Cyprus. Members and three observers representing Armenians in Cyprus, Armenian, Catholic Church in Cyprus, Latin, and Maronite Cypriots are elect ...
. EDEK was one of the most outspoken opponents of the Annan Plan for the reunification of Cyprus, which was voted on, and ultimately rejected by the Greek Cypriot community in the 2004 referendum. In the elections of 21 May 2006, the first since the referendum, the party increased its vote share to 8.9%, and won 5 out of 56 seats. EDEK backed
Dimitris Christofias Dimitris (Δημήτρης) is the Modern Greek form of the older forms Demetrios, Dimitrios (Δημήτριος, usually Latinized as Demetrius) and may refer to: * Dimitris Arvanitis (born 1980), Greek professional football defender who plays for ...
of the
Progressive Party of Working People The Progressive Party of Working People (, , ΑΚΕΛ or AKEL; ) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–LeninistHelena Smith, Cyprus gets ready for a communist 'takeover''The Guardian 2008 communist party in Cyprus. AKEL is one of the two major part ...
(AKEL) in the second round of the February 2008 presidential election. On the proposal of EDEK's Political Bureau, 109 members of its Central Committee voted in favor of supporting Christofias, five voted against, and two abstained. In February 2010 EDEK quit from the government coalition due to its dispute concerning the decisions of
Dimitris Christofias Dimitris (Δημήτρης) is the Modern Greek form of the older forms Demetrios, Dimitrios (Δημήτριος, usually Latinized as Demetrius) and may refer to: * Dimitris Arvanitis (born 1980), Greek professional football defender who plays for ...
in the Cyprus Problem. The party leader,
Yiannakis Omirou Yiannakis Omirou (; born 18 September 1951) is a Greek-Cypriot politician. He was president of the Cypriot parliament from 2011 to 2016 and was leader of political party EDEK between 2001 and 2015. Omirou was born in Paphos and studied law at ...
, was elected as President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus, following the 2011 general elections, in which EDEK obtained 8.93% of the votes and five seats in Parliament. In the February 2013 presidential election, EDEK backed the independent candidate
Yiorgos Lillikas Giorgos Lillikas (; born 1 June 1960) is a Cypriot politician. Following the election of Tassos Papadopoulos as president in 2003, Lillikas became minister of commerce and industry. He was subsequently the foreign minister from 2006 to 2007. He ...
. The former minister of foreign affairs in
Tassos Papadopoulos Efstathios "Tassos" Nikolaou Papadopoulos (; 7 January 1934 – 12 December 2008) was a Cypriot politician and barrister, who served as President of Cyprus from 2003 to 2008. An experienced member of the Makarios III’s cabinet, Papadopo ...
' cabinet. In the second round, EDEK decided not to back any other candidate, neither the DISY candidate
Nicos Anastasiades Nicos Anastasiades ( ; born 27 September 1946) is a Cypriot politician and businessperson, who served as the seventh president of Cyprus from 2013 to 2023. Previously, he was the leader of Democratic Rally between 1997 and 2013 and served as Me ...
, or AKEL candidate Stavros Malas. In January 2015, House President
Yiannakis Omirou Yiannakis Omirou (; born 18 September 1951) is a Greek-Cypriot politician. He was president of the Cypriot parliament from 2011 to 2016 and was leader of political party EDEK between 2001 and 2015. Omirou was born in Paphos and studied law at ...
resigned from EDEK's leadership. In March he was succeeded by his deputy
Marinos Sizopoulos Marinos Sizopoulos (; born 17 July 1957 in Nicosia) is a Cypriot politician, who is President of the Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) since 2015, and serves as a member of the House of Representatives since 2016, having previously served in ...
. In November 2022, the party's name was changed to EDEK Socialist Party.


Election results


Parliament


European Parliament


Presidents of the Movement

* 1969–2001: Dr.
Vasos Lyssaridis Vassos Lyssarides (; 13 May 1920 – 26 April 2021) was a Cypriot politician and physician who was a central figure in the politics of Cyprus after the island's independence. Biography Lyssarides was born in 1920 in the village of Pano Lefkara. ...
* 2001–2015:
Yiannakis Omirou Yiannakis Omirou (; born 18 September 1951) is a Greek-Cypriot politician. He was president of the Cypriot parliament from 2011 to 2016 and was leader of political party EDEK between 2001 and 2015. Omirou was born in Paphos and studied law at ...
* 2015–2025:
Marinos Sizopoulos Marinos Sizopoulos (; born 17 July 1957 in Nicosia) is a Cypriot politician, who is President of the Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) since 2015, and serves as a member of the House of Representatives since 2016, having previously served in ...
* 2025– :
Nikos Anastasiou Nikos (, ''Níkos'') is a Greek people, Greek given name. It originates from Greek language, Greek ''Nikolaos'', which means "victory of the people".Liddell & Scott, Abridged Greek Lexicon Although used as a proper first name, Nikos is also a popula ...


References


External links


Official websiteCyprus Elections & Politics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Movement For Social Democracy 1969 establishments in Cyprus Greek Cypriot nationalism Full member parties of the Socialist International Left-wing nationalist parties Party of European Socialists member parties Political parties established in 1969 Progressive Alliance Social democratic parties Socialist parties in Cyprus Political parties in Cyprus