Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias, under fire after a munitions blast killed 13 people and knocked out the island's biggest power plant, has asked his entire cabinet to quit, an official said on Thursday.
The 11-member cabinet was asked to step down so a reshuffle could take place, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou told reporters.
He said there will be a reshuffle “soon” following consultations with the government's coalition partners and other parties.
“It is a move for the president to seek to appoint a government of wider acceptance to achieve consensus on economic measures and to restore public trust,” Stefanou said.
The move comes after junior coalition partner Diko told its ministers to quit the government.
And it follows an announcement by ratings agency Moody's that it had downgraded Cypriot government bond ratings in part over the economic fallout from the blast and the “increasingly fractious domestic political climate.”
Christofias and his team are widely accused of failing to prevent the July 11 explosion, which also injured more than 60 people, caused millions of euros damage to homes and businesses in the vicinity and threatened economic recovery on the island.
Diko said its ministers were asked to tender their resignation to Christofias to “assist and expedite decision making and taking initiatives which everybody expects”.
It said decisions needed to be taken to “restore the trust of citizens in the state and its institutions and rescue the economy.”
A reshuffle is supported by communist Akel, the president's own party.
Diko has two ministers - health and commerce - in the 11 member cabinet following the resignation of foreign minister Marcos Kyprianou last week.
Leaked documents in the media indicate that officials knew that the 98 shipping containers of munitions -- piled up in the blazing sun at the base near Limassol - could explode.
The government has said Christofias was never made aware of the risk.
Among those killed was the head of the Cypriot navy, Captain Andreas Ioannides, who was reported to have repeatedly denounced the situation. The blast also claimed six firemen and six other military personnel.
The key Vassiliko facility provided more than half of the country's electricity.
Since the blast, thousands have gathered nightly outside the presidential palace to call on Christofias to resign following the island's worst peacetime military disaster.
The containers had been at the base since their seizure in February 2009 when Cyprus intercepted, under pressure from the United States and other Western nations, a Cypriot-flagged freighter bound from Iran for Syria. - AFP