PARTY SYSTEM OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS IN THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR ENTRY IN THE EU AND MEMBERSHIP IN THE ORGANIZATION

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the party system of the Republic of Cyprus in the context of the country’s integration into the European Union. The purpose of the study is to clarify the role of political parties in the context of changing the vector of state development. Relevance stems from the possible use of the experience of the Cypriot parties for Ukraine during the European integration process. Based on the methodological foundations of institutional analysis, the hypothesis of European integration as a unifying factor for the Cypriot parties was put forward and confirmed. On the example of the party system in Cyprus, the process of adaptation of political parties, the legislative framework regulating the activities of associations of citizens, to European norms is disclosed. The process of еuropeanization of the parties of Cyprus in the formats of participation in the party groups of the European Parliament; сhange of electoral technologies; the process of party rhetoric transition to European themes. It focuses on the process of fragmentation of the party system based on the positions of the parties regarding the Cyprus problem. Attention is drawn to the gradual spread of radicalism and populism, the reduction of the strength of traditional parties, the gradual growth of absenteeism.
The author has also researched the transformation of the Cypriot party system in the framework of the EU, determined the new features and phenomena in the functioning of the system during 2004–2016, defined the way the multi-party system was developing and the way the balance of forces was changing as a result of the national parliamentary and presidential elections and researched the election to the European Parliament in Republic of Cyprus as a factor of influence on the Cypriot party system.