The Republic of Cyprus was established in 1960 as an independent and sovereign Republic with a presidential system of government. Under the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, which is governed by the principle of separation of powers, the executive power is ensured and exercised jointly by the Greek Cypriot President and the Turkish Cypriot Vice-President of the Republic, through a Council of Ministers appointed by them (seven and three Ministers respectively).
In 1964, the Turkish Cypriot Vice-President and the three Turkish Cypriot ministers withdrew from government, and since then the government has been functioning by necessity only with Greek Cypriots in all ministries, which have been subsequently increased to eleven. The post of Vice-President remains vacant.
Consequently, under the Law of Necessity, the President of the Republic appoints eleven Ministers, who constitute the Council of Ministers of the state, and, with the exception of the guarded and explicitly defined, by the Constitution, powers of the President and the Vice-President of the Republic, exercise the state’s executive power. Furthermore, the Constitution grants power to the President of the Republic to appoint the independent state officials and the judges of the Supreme Court. Moreover, the President of the Republic has the authority, according to the provisions of the relevant national legislation, to appoint Deputy Ministers.
According to the Constitution, the President of the Republic is the Head of the State, takes precedence over all persons in the Republic and is elected directly, by universal suffrage and secret ballot for a five-year term. In the last presidential elections (February 2023), Mr Nikos Christodoulides was elected President of the Cyprus Republic.