C. THE CONSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE.

1. The Constitution provides for a presidential system of government, with a president who has to be Greek and a Vice-President who has to be a Turk, elected by the Greek and Turkish Communities of Cyprus respectively for a fixed five-year term (Article 1).

2. The President and the Vice-President of the Republic ensure the exercise of the executive power by the Council of Ministers or of the individual ministers. The Council of Ministers which comprises 7 Greek and 3 Turkish Cypriot ministers nominated by the President and the Vice-President respectively, but appointed by them co-jointly, exercises executive power in all matters other than those which, under express provisions of the Constitution, are within the competence of the President and Vice-President and the Communal Chambers (Article 54).

3. A unicameral House of Representatives is provided for by the Constitution, as the legislative organ of the Republic, composed of 50 representatives, 35 elected by the Greek Community and 15 by the Turkish Community for a five-year term, with a Greek Cypriot President and a Turkish Cypriot Vice-President elected separately.

4. The House of Representatives exercises legislative power in all matters, except those expressly reserved to the Communal Chambers under the Constitution (Article 61).

5. Two Communal Chambers were also envisaged by the Constitution to exercise legislative and administrative power on certain matters, such as religious affairs, educational and cultural matters, and communal taxes and charges levied to provide for the needs of, bodies and institutions under the control of the Chamber (Articles 86 to 90).

6. The Constitution provides for a Supreme Constitutional Court, consisting of a neutral President and a Greek and a Turkish judge appointed by the President and the Vice-President of the Republic, and a High Court consisting of two Greek judges, one Turkish judge and one neutral President, all similarly appointed.

7. The Supreme Constitutional Court was vested with jurisdiction in all matter pertaining to constitutional and administrative law matters. The High Court is the highest appelate court, it has revisional jurisdiction and the power to issue orders in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo wan-ante and certiorary. Civil and criminal jurisdiction in the first instance is vested in the Assizse and District Courts. The Constitution prohibits the setting up of judicial committees or exceptional or special courts under any guise.

8. The independent officers of the Republic are, the Attorney-General and his Deputy, the Auditor-General and his Deputy and, the Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Cetnral Bank. They are all appointed by the President and Vice-President on a community basis. The public service of the Republic should be composed of 70% Greek Cypriote and 30% Turkish Cypriote with a Public Service Commission similarly composed, responsible for appointments, promotions, discipline etc.

9. Both Communities were given the right to maintain a special relationship with Greece and Turkey, including the right to receive subsidies for educational, cultural, athletic and charitable institutions, and to obtain and employ schoolmasters, professors or clergymen provided by the Greek or Turkish Government (Article 108).

10. The entrenched communal character of the Constitution was confirmed by the voting system. All elections were to be conducted on the basis of separate communal electroral lists (Articles 63 and 94) and separate voting (Articles 1, 39, 62, 86, 173 and 178). Elections are now based on the proportional representation principle.

11. The withdrawal of Turkish Cypriot officials, and their refusal to exercise their functions, rendered impossible the goverining of the Republic, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

12. Matters came to a head, when the neutral President of the Supreme Constitutional and High Courts resigned in 1963 and 1964 respectively and, therefore neither Court could function. It should be noted that the Turkish Cypriot judges in both the Superior and District Courts remained in their posts until 1966, when they were forced by the Turkish Cypriot leadership to leave their posts, whereupon half of them fled abroad.

13. The above situation necessitated the introduction of remedial legislative measures. Thus the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Law of 1964 was enacted, creating thus a new Supreme Court which took over the jurisdiction of both the Supreme Constitutional Court and the High Court. The same Law restructured the Supreme Council of Judicature, which is the organ ensuring the independence of the judiciary.

14. The constitutionality of the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Law, 1964 was challenged before the Supreme Court which, in the case of the Attorney-General of the Republic v. Mustafa Imbrahim ((1964) Cyprus Law Reports p.195), held that the said Law was justified under the doctrine of necessity, in view of the abnormal situation privailing in Cyprus. Thereafter the administration of justice returned to normality.

15. On the basis of the same doctrine, legislative action remedied similar situations concerning the Communal Chamber, the Public Service Commission and membership of the House of Representatives.