Statement by G.Loucaides, AKEL Parliamentary Representative on what’s at stake in the elections
25th May 2021, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
On 30th May, we decide our country’s course. We decide whether we will restore dignity, hope and a perspective to our people or whether we will continue on the downhill path that the government policies have dragged us.
On 30th May, we decide whether to strengthen the political force that can keep the hope alive for a solution, liberation and reunification of our homeland and people.
Or whether we will reward the flirt with a two states solution and the adventurous handlings of Nikos Anastasiades on the Cyprus problem, which have led our country to the worst position it has ever been in.
We will decide whether to move forward in practice and not with unfulfilled pledges, to a sustainable model of green growth and the digital transformation of the economy, in which the wealth produced will be more equitably distributed.
Or whether we applaud the DISY Government for imposing a “get-rich-quick” economy, for the ‘golden’ passport industry, the dissolution of the Cooperative Bank, privatizations, the abandonment of small and medium-sized enterprises, the self-employed and the shrinking middle class, and in general whether we endorse the economic policy that serves the feast for the privileged few and leaves crumbs for the many.
On 30th May, we decide whether we will support transparency, accountability and scrutiny, the restoration of institutions and protection of independent officials and the rule of law.
Or whether we reward on top of that, the unprecedented institutional corruption, the international shaming of Cyprus, the regime-type practices of the DISY Government and its clashes with almost all institutions, given that whoever does not comply with the government ruling force’s orders is led to dismissal or forced to resign.
Working people, and especially the most vulnerable who are not covered by collective agreements, will decide whether to support the Party that struggles with consistency and determination for the protection and extension of their rights, such as the establishment through legislation of a mechanism to ensure a minimum wage and the 13th month salary, providence fund and other basic rights.
Or whether insensitivity towards working people will be rewarded and the promotion of the deregulation of labour relations and flexible forms of employment, as is the case with the thousands of teachers of the Education Ministry’s evening and afternoon programs.
Respectively, pensioners will decide whether they will back the political force that is struggling for their dignity, which fights for the abolition of the unjust and leveling penalty of 12%, or whether to support the Government refusal that has reached the point of rejecting and even sending laws back to Parliament that safeguard the equal treatment of those who remain in employment after the age of 63, as regards unemployment and sickness benefit.
Teachers will decide whether to support the Party that stood by and with them in their mass mobilizations or whether to support those who were insulting their dignity and services and at the same time undermining and attempting to discredit the public school system.
Respectively, health professionals/workers, whom the DISY Government also denigrated and defamed, will also at the same time decide about those who undermined and underfunded for a number of years the public health system, which they had otherwise pledged to upgrade and modernize in view of the introduction of the National Health Scheme, leaving it unprotected in the face of the pandemic.
Borrowers will decide whether to support that political force that fought hard against the foreclosures of primary family homes and small business premises and for the restoration of their rights against the impunity of the banks, or whether to support the government ruling forces who admitted they were tired of passing laws in favor of the banks.
What is at stake is also the protection of the environment, which remains a victim of the government ruling force’s incompetency and which is being sacrificed mainly to serve powerful economic interests.
But also about culture and its artists and art workers, who continue to be considered secondary importance.
The same and worse apply to the young generation that was condemned to be the first generation to live much worse than the previous one.
That is why on 30th May we do have a choice!
We decide about our future.
We restore the perspective, we renew the hope!
On 30th May, we give strength to our voice.
To the voice that has with consistency defended, for almost 100 years now, the many and the non-privileged.
We send out a powerful message to the Anastasiades-DISY government about the deadlocks it has caused and all the negative situations and dangers it has accumulated.
We strengthen the prospect for a progressive change, which our country and society so desperately need.
