Demetris Christofias

Demetris Christofias, also spelled Dimitris Christofias ( ; 29 August 1946 – 21 June 2019), was a Cypriot politician. He was the sixth President of Cyprus from 2008 to 2013. Christofias was the General Secretary of AKEL, the communist party of Cyprus, and was the European Union's and Cyprus' first, and so far only, communist head of state.
He won the 2008 Cypriot presidential elections in the second round of voting. Throughout the election campaign, he promised to restart talks with Turkish Cypriots in order to find an answer to the Cyprus dispute and reunify the island. He has also supported the closure of the British military bases on Cyprus.
On 20 May 2019, Christofias was hospitalized in Nicosia due to an acute respiratory infection and was under critical condition. He died a month later on 21 June 2019 from respiratory failure at the age of 72.