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.