Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) is the association of Commonwealth Parliamentarians who, according to its Constitution, irrespective of race, religion or culture, promote respect for the rule of law, human rights and basic freedoms, while furthering the ideals of parliamentary democracy and diplomacy.
The Association is comprised of Branches which are established in the parliaments of the Commonwealth member countries. At present, the Association numbers a hundred and eighty five (185) member-branches, in corresponding national and federal Parliaments, with more than seventeen thousand (17000) parliamentarians. Each Branch is autonomous and its affairs are handled by its own Executive Committee. This also applies to the Cyprus Branch, which is a member (of the Association) since 1978 and has its own Constitution. In the interest of better organisation, the various Branches, are divided into nine (9) Regions, according to their geographical location. Cyprus belongs in the Region of the British Isles and the Mediterranean (BIM).
The Association advances parliamentary democracy, understanding and cooperation amongst its members and respect towards parliamentary institutions and procedures. These goals are promoted through the annual (Commonwealth) Parliamentary Conference (CPC), the Regional Conferences, the exchange of visits and seminars, election observation as well as CPA’s various publications. These include “The Parliamentarian” magazine, in which MPs from member-branches contribute via articles on current affairs, thus projecting widely their views. Moreover, the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC), which takes place bi-annually, further endorses the above goals.
The Officers of the Association are its President, who is elected each year and is the Speaker/Presiding Officer of the country which hosts the annual Parliamentary Conference. The Vice-President is also elected for a one-year term and is the Speaker/Presiding Officer of the country which will host the next CPC. The Chairperson of the Executive Committee (ExCo) is elected for a three-year term by the General Assembly of the Association. The Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee is elected for one (1) year by the Executive Committee. Lastly, the Treasurer is nominated by the Executive Committee and then elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term. The Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) is also included in the Officers of the Association. The General Assembly is the supreme authority of the Association and it is comprised of all representatives who participate in the General Assembly.
The House of Representatives effectively participates in all the activities of the Association. It participates with a three-member delegation in the annual Parliamentary Conference (the representation to the CPC is according to the number of parliamentarians in the legislature of each country), whereas it attends the Regional Conference with a four-member delegation. The current delegation of the House to the CPA consists of Mr Aristos Damianou – Head (AKEL- LEFT-NEW FORCES), Mr. Marios Mavrides (Democratic Rally) and Mr. Christos Orphanides (Democratic Party). The Cyprus Branch is comprised of all Members of the House of Representatives and is governed by its Executive Committee, which is presided over by the respective President of the House (ex officio), whilst the elected representatives of the largest Parties of the Cypriot Parliament act as Vice-Presidents. The Secretary General of the House acts as Branch Secretary.
The House of Representatives has in recent years, hosted in Cyprus, the annual Regional Conference of the British Isles and the Mediterranean in May 2015, while in June 2019, it carried out a working visit/seminar, when it hosted a delegation of the regional Steering Committee of the CWP, in collaboration with the Mediterranean Institute on Gender Studies of the University of Nicosia.