Demetris Christofias

Demetris Christofias
Δημήτρης Χριστόφιας
Christofias in 2011
6th President of Cyprus
In office 28 February 2008 – 28 February 2013
Preceded by	Tassos Papadopoulos
Succeeded by	Nicos Anastasiades
9th President of the House of Representatives
In office 7 June 2001 – 28 February 2008
Preceded by	Spyros Kyprianou
Succeeded by	Marios Garoyian
4th General Secretary of the Progressive Party of Working People
In office 22 April 1988 – 21 February 2009
Preceded by	Ezekias Papaioannou
Succeeded by	Andros Kyprianou
Personal details
Born	(1946-08-29)29 August 1946 Kato Dikomo, British Cyprus
Died	21 June 2019(2019-06-21) (aged 72) Nicosia, Cyprus
Political party	Progressive Party of Working People
Spouse	Elsie Chiratou ​ ​ (m. 1972)​
Children	3
Education	PhD
Signature

Demetris Christofias^[a] (Greek: Δημήτρης Χριστόφιας [ðiˈmitɾis xɾiˈstofças]; 29 August 1946 – 21 June 2019) was a Cypriot politician, who served President of Cyprus from 2008 to 2013. He was previously President of the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2008 and General Secretary of the Progressive Party of Working People from 1988 to 2009.

Taking on the challenge of responding to the 2007-8 Global Financial Crisis, he implemented a popular and wide-ranging social program, increasing pensions and the minimum wage. At the end of his term, however, the local banking system collapsed. Putting blame on the banks, he attempted to raise taxes on them as a way of funding the island's recovery, but failed to pass this into legislation. Also citing deadlock in reunification talks, he announced that he would not seek re-election, becoming the first Cypriot leader to opt-out of running for a second term. He remains the only communist head of state in the history of both Cyprus and the European Union.
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