Constantia Varda Explained

Office:Member of the Greek Communal Chamber
Term:1960–1965
Constituency:Nicosia
Birth Date:1916
Birth Place:Larnaca, Cyprus
Death Place:1993

Constantia Miltonos Varda (1916–1993) was a Cypriot lawyer and politician. In 1960 she was elected to the Greek Communal Chamber, jointly becoming the first woman elected to a legislative body in Cyprus alongside Kadriye Hulusi Hacıbulgur, who had been elected to the Turkish Communal Chamber.

Biography

Varda was born in Larnaca in 1916.[1] She attended the Pancypriot Commercial High School in Larnaca, where she was a member of the school hockey team, completing her secondary education in 1933.[1]

After leaving school she began working as a secretary in the law firm of Miltiadis Oikonomakis. While working at the firm, she met Miltiadis Varda who worked at the business next door; the two married in 1944.[1] Oikonomakis was childless and encouraged Constantia to study law. After enrolling at the Middle Temple law school in London, she completed a LL.B course by correspondence, graduating in 1957,[1] becoming the second female lawyer in Cyprus.[1] During the second half of the 1950s she was a member of EOKA, a Greek Cypriot guerilla organisation.[2] She defended several EOKA fighters in court.[1]

In the 1960 parliamentary elections Varda was a Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) candidate for the Greek Communal Chamber in Nicosia, and was the only woman elected to the Chamber.[3] [4] [2] The Chamber effectively ceased functioning in 1963,[3] and was abolished in 1965.

In 1985 she became president of the Larnaca Bar Association, a position she held until her death in 1993.[1]

Notes and References

  1. https://larnakaonline.com.cy/2022/09/13/%ce%ba%cf%89%ce%bd%cf%83%cf%84%ce%b1%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%af%ce%bd%ce%b1-%ce%b2%ce%ac%cf%81%ce%b4%ce%b1-%ce%b7-%cf%80%cf%81%cf%8e%cf%84%ce%b7-%ce%ba%cf%8d%cf%80%cf%81%ce%b9%ce%b1-%ce%b2%ce%bf%cf%85%ce%bb/ Κωνσταντίνα Βάρδα: Η πρώτη Κύπρια βουλευτής από την Λάρνακα
  2. http://www.polignosi.com/cgibin/hweb?-A=45270&-V=limmata Βάρδα Κωνσταντία
  3. Thomas W. Adams (1971) AKEL: the Communist Party of Cyprus, p128
  4. http://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/1960_1_298.pdf Legislation of the Year, Volume 2