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The report of the commission investigating the powerful explosion in the naval base Evangelos Florakis near Limassol has raised a political storm in Cyprus. The chairman of the committee Polis Poliviou appointed by the Ministerial Council of Cyprus cited the Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias as the main culprit for the tragedy that killed 13 people. The lawyer stated that the President of the Republic, who is also the Chief Commander and has sovereignty in relation to the investigated case, bears primary responsibility for the failure, carelessness and negligence of the ministers and their assistants. The head of the commission attributes serious institutional and personal responsibility for the incident to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Kyprianou and Minister of Defence Kostas Papakostas. He found that the officers, sailors and naval base personnel knew nothing about the dangerous goods and defined the 13 victims as heroes.

The President of the main opposition party "Democratic Rally", Nikos Anastasiadis, characterized the report as a "catapult against the president" who "showed inconsistency, lack of courage and fear of responsibility, affected the institutions and hid behind the leadership and core of his party." According to the opposition leader, Dimitris Christofias refers to the problems of the state to stay in power but in reality he has to deal with "his inability to solve the problems because he is a President without legitimacy." He urged him to resign or call an early election. "If the President insists on staying in power, our party will take the initiative of cooperating with other opposition parties to protect the interests of the Cypriot people."

The Communist Party of Cyprus AKEL, the head of which is Dimitris Christofias, rejected Polis Poliviou's report and said in a statement, "his conclusions on the responsibility of the president are arbitrary and unfounded." The party spokesman George Loukaidis said that "holding elections in this atmosphere of tension would be an expression of disservice to the people and an act of supreme irresponsibility" and wondered "why some continue to maintain an atmosphere of political imbalance."

Despite the attempts by the ruling Communist leadership to diminish the events, the Democratic Party DIKO also stated, "these events are leading the country towards a serious political crisis." The party spokesman Fotis Fotiou announced the adoption of a strategic framework and a set of proposals in order to maintain political stability. He called on President Christofias "to be the first to set an example of taking responsibility in these very critical times for Cyprus" and added that the serious political, institutional and personal responsibilities that the report of the commission conferred upon him left him no other option but to resign.
 
The EDEK party also defined the work of the commission as incontestable. "Any attempt to challenge the credibility and objectivity of the report is questionable from a legal, political and ethical standpoint," said the party’s vice chairman Sofoklis Sofokleous and added that President Christofias should assume his political responsibility, as promised.

"Taking responsibility means resignation. Any other way leads to polarization, division and instability and threatens the interests of the people and the state," he said.

European party leader Dimitris Silouris called the rejection of the report by the President "a cruel blow to the institutions". He called on the Cypriot President "to accept and assume the responsibilities stated in the report" and said he would make a concrete proposal to the other parties to address the political crisis.
 
The deputy from the party of environmentalists, George Perdikis, proposed holding parliamentary discussion and obtaining a decision based on the controversial report. He urged the President and his party, AKEL, to consider the fact that "the road to consent begins with the resignation of Christofias".

In turn, the special adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, said that the international organization does not intervene in political issues that affect both countries. In his statement after the last meeting between Dimitris Christofias and Dervis Eroglu, he said that the United Nations "always communicates with those in power" and added that the fact that some want the resignation of such persons, should not affect the United Nations. This is a national matter and it was not discussed at the meeting.