Demetris Christofias was re-elected Thursday afternoon president of Cyprus' new 56-seat House of Representatives following the May 21 parliamentary elections.

Christofias, general secretary of the left-wing Working People's Progressive Party (AKEL), was re-elected with a total of 35 votes.

Among the 35 votes, 18 were from deputies of AKEL, 11 from the center-right Democratic Party, five from the Social-democrats Movement (EDEK) and one from the Movement of Ecologists - Environmentalists.

Nicos Anastasiades, president of the right-wing Democratic Rally (DISI), was also a candidate for the presidency of the House of Representatives, and 18 deputies of his party voted against Christofias' candidacy.

A third candidate, Demetris Syllouris, president of the European Party, was supported by three deputies of his newly- formed party that entered the House of Representatives for the first time.

The unicameral parliament consists of 80 members, but 24 seats reserved for the Turkish Cypriots have been vacant since 1963.

Source: Xinhua