Cretan-Cyprus Republic
Capital: Chania
Government: Democracy (Socialism)
President: Andreas Papandreou
Ruling Party: Pan Cretan-Cyprus Socialist Movement (PASOK)
Opposition:
New Democracy
Communist Party of Crete-Cyprus
Parliament: 300 Seats
180 - PASOK
100 - New Democracy
20 - Communist Party
History:
After the Balkan War in 1912-1913, Crete became an independent state with it's own government. At first, the political scene of Crete was divided between those who supported unification with Mainland Greece and the supporters of a free Cretan State. The National Schism (1915 - 1917) in Greece persuaded the Cretans to stay out of Greece. After his defeat in the 1920 Greek elections, the Cretan political Eleftherios Venizelos returned to Crete, formed the Liberal Party and became President. He modernized the country, developed a sense of distinct Cretan identity, build more schools and redistributed the land.
Venizelos remained President until 1935, when he died due to a hear attack. He was succeeded by Alexandros Papanastasiou, also of the Liberal Party, who managed with long and difficult negotiations to persuade the British to give up Cyprus to Crete in exchange for Crete allowing British military bases in Cyprus. So, the Cretan-Cyprus Republic was formed. During WWII, Alexandros went back on his agreement with the British and forced them to leave completely the island.
Once WWII was over, the British army had bled too much to be able to launch an expedition against Cyprus. With the death of Alexandros in 1952, the Liberal Party collapsed between several factions fighting for supremacy. This divided their electoral power and allowed the right wing New Democracy of Konstantinos Karamanlis to win the 1953 elections. He increased trade and cooperation with other nations, modernized the nation's armed forces and supported the industrialization of Crete-Cyprus.
By 1956, the left wing of the Liberal Party had left the party and had formed the Pan Cretan-Cyprus Socialist Movement (PASOK). PASOK, with the motto: "Socialism for a better future" and "First time left" won the 1957 elections with 63%, the highest percentage of any political party in all of Cretan-Cyprian elections. Andreas Papandreou, leader of PASOK and President, hopes to lead Crete-Cyprus down a better Socialist future.
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