AKEL statement on local election results: AKEL’s proposals were to a great extent embraced by the people
Statement by Andors Kyprianou, General Secretary of AKEL
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 18th December 2016, Nicosia
Assessing the May parliamentary election results, we declared that we got the messages sent by the people. Our goal during the Local elections was to rebuild relations of trust with the people, upholding the principles that guide us in the formulation of our positions. We sought to forge these relations of trust by discussing with people and taking their own views about the formation of our candidate lists very seriously into account, but also with regards the candidates that we would support.
We went to the local communities, talked with them openly, seriously and truthfully. We listened to their opinions and made our choices. Capable people, with knowledge, honesty, with a vision for local communities and a willingness to work were chosen.
Based on the election results we consider that our proposals were embraced to a great extent by the people. We have elected a lot of Mayors, so far 10 Mayors who are Party militants and 4 others who were elected with the support of other parties. At the same time we also lost some municipalities by very small margins.
The results so far suggest that the Party candidate lists for municipal and local community councils have halted the decline and an upward trend in AKEL’s percentage rates has begun. We are pleased because in a very short period of time we have stopped the downward trend and the Party is recovering its strength.
Of course we clarify that we do not consider this as the end of the road. Our efforts will continue to restore the relationships of trust with the people and convince them that we truly exist to serve them in practice, to try to make their life better and to elaborate policies that will drive our country and people always forward. This is not the time for celebrations. Now is the time for a lot of work – namely, to manage through local government to create better living conditions for all citizens. We want citizens themselves and the institution of local government itself to be the ones to primarily gain from this process.
I want to focus once again on the phenomenon of high abstention to state that it is assuming structural characteristics. A collective effort to address the root causes of this phenomenon is demanded. Of course it is clear that the high abstention is also due to the given circumstances that exist.
We address a direct appeal to all the political parties and all political figures that they themselves should stop discrediting ourselves.
I want to congratulate the Mayors and Municipal Councilors, Local community heads and members of Community Councils and School Boards who have been elected. Intense, very hard work, must be made in the effort to convince the people that its worth participating in this electoral process which affects people’s everyday life and which has enormous potential to make a better life for them. By participating in this process they can contribute so that the local self-government, but also local authority services can attain new, higher levels.
I particularly want to thank and congratulate the hundreds of militants and members of AKEL who gave their very best in this electoral struggle, under very difficult conditions. We are proud of the results they managed to achieve. I particularly want to thank the youth who participated in this electoral process by supporting the efforts of the Party and our electoral candidate lists. They played their own big part in the campaign we waged. I want to tell them that we believe in young people and are investing in them. We want young people to be with us so that we can take our country further forward to higher levels.
