AKEL General Secretary statements on the Presidential Elections

 

5 February 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

QUESTION: Have you crossed Mr. Pamborides off the list?

SS: In relation to the presidential elections, at least as far as AKEL is concerned, there is nothing new other than what we have been saying all along.  We have approved at the level of the Central Committee a political framework, on the basis of which we shall move on two levels.

Firstly, we will have contacts with the opposition parties, trying through a discussion to see what prospects there are for cooperation and creating the preconditions for ending the DISY government and electing a government that will bring progressive change to the country.

Secondly, we will go down to the Party grass roots membership, to the friends of the Party and the New Forces to discuss this political framework and what we will do. We haven’t discussed any names.

Q: “Phileleftheros” newspaper had as it’s a front page headline ¨Pamborides is finished after reactions from AKEL cadres and especially after the reaction of Mrs. Charalambidou¨. Do you refute this?

SS: But I have said that we have not discussed names. We have not discussed any names and we have not entered into this process. We have stated clearly countless times that we are in another phase. We will come to the phase of discussing names (for a presidential candidate). Right now we are just not at that stage.

Q: The president of the Democratic Party (DIKO) told RIK television that he is not precluding neither Mr. Pamborides, nor Mr. Christodoulides as presidential candidates, which you have ruled out?

SS: We have already announced, and this is included in the decision of the Central Committee, that we have excluded those who are already advertising themselves as the continuators of this government’s policy, a government that we want to change. One is the current DISY President Averof Neophytou, who has announced his candidacy anyway, and the other is a potential candidate who says that he is interested and at the same time is competing with Averof Neophytou in terms of how much of a successor he will be to the present government of this country. We therefore also not discussing the name of the former Foreign Minister N. Christodoulides.

Q: You keep saying that you are in dialogue with the opposition parties, but up to now, DIKO seems to be monopolising this discussion. Do you have any other contacts with the other opposition parties?

SS: What we have said is that we want to enter into a dialogue with the opposition parties. Of course, as a priority, at this stage at least, we will try to enter into a dialogue with DIKO, which is the second largest opposition party, after AKEL. We have already had some preliminary meetings with DIKO President N.Papadopoulos, but we will subsequently seek to talk to all the opposition parties.

Q: So you have no dialogue so far with other parties?

SS: Anyway, we have not had one with anybody on the level of the presidential elections.

Q: But with Mr. Papadopoulos have you had some informal contacts?

SS: Yes, that’s what I have said we had. But also Mr. Papadopoulos as you understand will have his party congress tomorrow that will discuss this issue. We have said when the parties are ready then we want to enter into this discussion.

Q: Are there any preclusions from the opposition parties in this discussion?

SS: No, we will enter into a dialogue with all the opposition parties. We will attempt to do it with all opposition parties as we have said.

Q: With ELAM too?

SS: Far-right ELAM is of the family of the government and the ruling DISY party. We do not discuss with ELAM.

Q: And when will we wait?

SS: You do realize that to enter into such a dialogue, we need to have the corresponding decisions from the parties. Just as AKEL had to first discuss the political framework in which it will act. I understand that the other parties will do the same. This story cannot go on because this debate has already started prematurely – because of the DISY infighting – but it cannot go on far either.

AKEL has its procedures, which provide that, in addition to the discussion with the party membership, includes the New Forces and friends of the Party. We will then come back to the Central Committee where we will make an assessment of this dialogue in the context of which there will be an evaluation of what and how the party grass roots approaches the issue and what its priorities are.  We will discuss again and approve our final decisions as provided for in the party’s statutes at an extraordinary Pancyprian Congress where the final decisions will be taken in a very democratic procedure.

Q: So when well this congress convene? Do you have a timeframe in mind?

SS: Yes, we do have a timeframe that aspires to complete this process in the spring but we can’t define it more precisely because not everything depends on us.