Presidential elections and candidates (2)

 

Article by Andros Kyprianou, former General Secretary of AKEL

Sunday 11 September 2022, “Haravgi” newspaper

The presidential elections will be decisive for the development of Cypriot society in the years ahead. They will determine whether Cypriot society will manage to lay the foundations for a different and promising path, or whether it will continue to falter, increasing its problems and deepening its crisis.

The problems that the next President of the Republic will have to deal with are many – the Cyprus problem, the fight against corruption and poverty and other major social problems that have accumulated in society. There are also two other problems to which society may not attach great importance to, but I consider them to be extremely important. Namely, the lack of a democratic culture in the exercise of power and the arrogance [of the government ruling forces] that leads to depreciating people’s intelligence.

With these as a basis, I will seek to outline my own view of the three most important candidates, based on my knowledge and experience with them over the last 30 years. My reference to just these three does not minimise the other presidential candidates. However, I think everyone understands that none of the other candidates have a chance of resolutely challenging for the presidency.

Presidential candidate Averof Neofytou is the leader of the ruling DISY party. For years he has sought to convince the Cypriot people that he was the politician who determined developments on all issues. Now, understanding that this perception in society is damaging him, he is seeking to refute it. But it is too late now.

More importantly, he is the principal representative of neoliberal conservative policies. His alleged “outburst” of “I’m tired of voting in favor of the banks” is notorious. Of course, even after this outburst, he continued to vote for the banks and to vote against every proposal that sought to provide relief and protection to the people. This demonstrates how much he glorifies the market economy, with no regard for the people behind mere numbers.

As far as the Cyprus problem is concerned, various people state that Av. Neofytou consistently defends the solution [of the Cyprus problem]. Furthermore, that behind the scenes he is working in this direction and that supposedly there are just some things he cannot say in public. Let me just say that this is for all those who do not want to admit that DISY has tricked them. What matters is what DISY stood for and how it acted at critical and decisive moments [of the Cyprus problem], both inside and outside the National Council. References to “tsunamis” are meaningless if at the critical time instead of supporting Cyprus you support Anastasiades.

As far as corruption is concerned, the latest revelations are damning for both DISY and Averof Neofytou personally. They do not concern bad practices of the past years that applied to all parties. They refer directly to possible entanglement/interwoven interests involving corruption. Despite the fact that during their governance Cyprus became led the way in corruption across the European Union, the government ruling forces insist that they are “immaculate and untainted”.

For all these reasons – and many others – Averof Neofytou cannot be a choice for anyone who wants the good of Cyprus either.