One conflict ended, another battle begins. After dramatically settling who gets which parliamentary committee chairmanship, the parties now have to divide the quilt. In short, to decide who will participate in each parliamentary committee.
The rosters of the new parliamentary committees, according to what the parties will present, must be ready by Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday morning, the Selection Committee will meet again to approve the compositions of each committee, which will consist of 12 members. The compositions of all parliamentary committees will then be placed before the Plenary of the House of Representatives for final approval.
All parliamentary committees begin work on Monday, June 22, 2026.
When the dust settled
It took two discussions that unfolded in a tense atmosphere for the Selection Committee to decide who gets which parliamentary committee chairmanship. And when the dust settled... it was revealed that the three parties (DISY, AKEL, DIKO) retain the chairmanships they held during the previous parliamentary term, and ELAM will finally take the three "orphan" committees.
Something that, as MPs point out, could have been done from the start without tensions and long sessions.
Thus, after five hours of discussions (Thursday and Friday), the Selection Committee decided by majority - since AKEL insisted on disagreeing - which party gets what.
According to the decision, the parliamentary committee chairmanships are distributed as follows:
- DISY: Foreign Affairs, Legal, Health, Commerce, Institutions.
- AKEL: Interior, Labor, Agriculture, Refugees, Human Rights.
- ELAM: Defense, Environment, Transport.
- DIKO: Finance, Education, Audit.
And now each with their own
At party offices, lists of who will participate in which committee are already being prepared. Maximum four per person and in each parliamentary committee 12 MPs.
Although some made sure to secure chairmanships even before going to the polls, others started working behind the scenes right after the elections when they secured entry into the new House.
According to information so far, regarding DISY, the committees for which it is clear who will preside are Legal, Health, and Commerce, and these will be chaired by Fotini Tsiridou, Savvia Orfanidou, and Nikos Georgiou respectively. For Institutions, Giorgos Karoullas seems likely to go, while it is not yet clear who will chair the Foreign Affairs Committee, with the frontrunners being Charalampos Petridis and Giorgos Pamboridis, unless someone from the older MPs is sought and it does not go to a new one.
As for AKEL, they retain the chairmanships of Interior, Agriculture, and Refugees with Aristos Damianos, Yiannakis Gavriel, and Nikos Kettiros respectively. Giorgos Koukoumas, according to information, will chair the Labor Committee, while Human Rights will most likely go to Marina Nikolaou.
In ELAM, the distribution appears to be as follows: Defense – Evgenios Champoulas, Transport – Sotiris Ioannou, and Environment – Linos Papayiannis.
In DIKO, Christiana Erotokritou remains chair of the Finance Committee, as does Zacharias Koulias of the Audit Committee, while Education will be chaired by Chrysanthos Savvides.
And the murmuring continues
Regarding yesterday and the decisions taken:
The Parliamentary Spokesperson of DISY, Dimitris Dimitriou, stated that his party came "with a spirit of cooperation, with flexibility, knowing that as the large party - this is something we do consistently - we take less than what would be due to us precisely because we understand that this spirit of understanding and cooperation among parties is needed." Mr. Dimitriou said that "we have an issue as DISY with the outcome of the Defense Committee being given to ELAM."
The Parliamentary Spokesperson of AKEL, Giorgos Loukaidis, said that "for the first time we have not been able to reach a consensual solution in the distribution of chairmanships, not due to AKEL's fault." Indicating his intentions regarding the House itself, Mr. Loukaidis said that "it is sad and tragic, if not farcical, because we saw the continuation of what we experienced with the Presidency of the House" and added that "Mrs. Dimitriou is ready to give everything, not just to DIKO, but also to ELAM, based on the same expediencies and in the same way we saw this theater of the absurd unfold with the Presidency of the House."
The MP of ELAM, Linos Papayiannis, said that "we are not celebrating, we do not consider that this means anything. We roll up our sleeves and are ready to take on this burden."
The Parliamentary Spokesperson of DIKO, Panikos Leonidou, attempted to lower the tones by stating the obvious: "We can reassure both public opinion and everyone that a chairman will no longer be able to do whatever they want in any committee."
