The 5 newly-elected District Governors

With the election of five District Governors as well as 20 new mayors, the faces that will be in charge of implementing the Local Administration Reform from 1 July onwards have been revealed.

It is worth noting that of the 25 winners, almost half were re-elected, either to the same municipalities or the new ones and organisations that were created.

Of the five District Governors (DG) that were elected, two were backed by right-wing DISY while three by leftist AKEL. DIKO supported four of the elected DGs.

As for the mayors, the majority came from AKEL (eight), followed by DISY with five, DIKO with four and EDEK with one.

Here are the new District Governors:

Nicosia District Governor: Constantinos Yiorkadjis (he had the backing of DISY, DIKO, EDEK, DIPA, Animal Party Cyprus)

Constantinos Yiorkadjis, the incumbent Mayor of Nicosia having served the post for the past 12 years, was elected as the capital’s district governor in the 9 June elections. Yiorkadjis had 53.9% of the vote, while his rival Andreas Assiotis gathered 46.1% of Nicosia’s support.

Limassol District Governor: Yiannis Tsouloftas (backed by AKEL, DIKO, EDEK, Green Party)

Yiannis Tsouloftas, appointed General Manager of the Sewerage Board of Limassol – Amathus back in 2020, has been elected Limassol District Governor. Tsouloftas was selected as was selected as the Project Manager for the creation of the Limassol District Self-Government Organisation.

Larnaca District Governor: Angelos Hadjicharalambous (backed by AKEL, DIKO, DIPA, Green Party)

Angelos Hadjicharalambous, Director of the Larnaca Sewerage Board, became the Larnaca District Governor with almost two thirds of the vote, beating outgoing Aradippou mayor Evangelos Evangelides. On his website, Hadjicharalambous said: “My decision (to run) came after mature thought and prompting from remarkable people who have been serving the city and district of Larnaca for a long time. The goal is to create a specialised, efficient, properly structured and staffed organisation, which has the required know-how, weight and reliability, offering seamless quality services to citizens.”

Famagusta District Governor: Yiannis Karousos (backed by DISY and DIPA)

Yiannis Karousos, former Transport, Communications and Works Minister, was elected Famagusta District Governor in the local elections. With 55% of the vote, Karousos garnered almost twice as many votes as his nearest opponent Theodoros Pyrillis. He had previously served as Ayia Napa mayor between 2013 and 2019, while he has also served as labour minister.

Paphos District Governor: Charalambos Pittokopitis (backed by AKEL, DIKO, EDEK and DIPA)

Charalambos Pittokopitis was elected Paphos District Governor with a margin of just 38 votes, beating his rival Kostas Konstantinou. Pittokopitis, who was supported by AKEL and DIKO, received 41.9% of the votes, while Konstantinou 41.8%. Marios Tselepos, who ran as an independent, secured 16.3% of the votes.