The proposal with A. Mavroyiannis as presidential candidate can express the common belief for change

The General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL

15 May 2022, ‘Dialogos’ portal

The proposal with Andreas Mavroyiannis as presidential candidate meets those conditions that can express the common belief for change, said the General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou in his address to the 27th AKEL Larnaca District Conference.

The country, he said, needs progressive change that will end the downward spiral and the deadlocks. He also addressed an appeal to the opposition parties to rally their forces with AKEL to achieve the goal of change.

“Under the current rulers, Cyprus is considered a country that launders dirty money and is a haven for fraudsters,” he said, accusing the ruling DISY ‘Democratic Rally’ government of “lacking credibility on the Cyprus problem, but on many other issues too”, such as the ‘golden’ passports and visas.

S.Stefanou said that the ruling DISY party and the government have degraded the rule of law and the welfare state and “have taken us back to times of unprecedented authoritarianism, arbitrariness and DISY control over the state”.

The General Secretary of AKEL subsequently referred to AKEL’s Congress, its history, identity and course, stating that “with this course we shall continue our own path of militancy to pass the landmark 100 years and reach 200 years of life and struggle, to continue to march on for the benefit of our people, our homeland, our workers and every value and ideal that humanity has created through its long struggles over centuries”.

With this path as a creed, the General Secretary of AKEL said, “we will continue on our own path by modernising our actions in today’s very difficult and complex local and international conditions. For us, the history of our Party is the mirror that we look at in order to move forward with certainty, pride and dignity.”

Referring to the Conferences of AKEL’s District Organisations, he said they are continuing the discussion that began at the Party Congress.

“The Party’s Conference in Larnaca is the first in a series of district conferences,” he said, adding that through the discussion they will have over the weekend, debating general issues and building on the decisions of the Congress, “we will see how we become better, stronger, how we confront the general and specific problems the district of Larnaca faces. Furthermore, we will certainly discuss how the Larnaka District Organisation of AKEL will continue to carry out the remarkable work it is doing for the movement, the district and society of Larnaca.”

S.Stefanou then pointed out that these Conferences are also taking place in an environment that is full of problems, dangers and deadlocks. “The governance of the country for almost 10 years by the Democratic Rally party has created many problems. Everywhere you look there are deadlocks. They are so significant that the present and future of the country is at stake which is of great concern to us,” he said.

“The first major impasse was on the Cyprus problem”, he said, adding that “Turkey was more provocative than ever before, which is using the impasse to promote and strengthen the partition on the ground by seeking to make the partition permanent.”

“And while”, the General Secretary of AKEL continued, “we have such a situation with a provocative Turkey, on the other hand we have a President and a government of the DISY party that have managed – because this really is an achievement – to be considered by the international community as being equally responsible for the deadlock and the stalemate on the Cyprus problem”.

The Greek Cypriot side’s narrative on the Cyprus problem has collapsed and unfortunately the Greek Cypriot side does not have credibility internationally and that is precisely why it is not convincing about its narratives, he stressed.

But developments are running against the backdrop of the deadlock surrounding the Cyprus problem and day by day partition is getting closer, he said.

The General Secretary of AKEL then referred to the government’s lack of credibility on other issues too, such as the government’s policies on golden passports and visas.

He went on to say that “during the period of the DISY administration we have seen the deterioration of the rule of law. The government has turned many institutions – whose role should be to exercise scrutiny over the state – into instruments of the government to legitimise and justify its policies which are fundamentally against society and the rule of law.”

The General Secretary of AKEL went on to refer to “the dismantling of the welfare state too”, stating that the war in Ukraine has intensified the phenomena of price hikes/increases and inflation, but that this situation began way before the war broke out. “When AKEL was stressing the need for measures to be taken and for policies to be formulated to provide support for working people, society, the vulnerable groups of the population and young people, the government told us not to worry and that the phenomenon is temporary. But the phenomenon is not temporary. It has come and will be with us for some time,” he added.

The government, S.Stefanou stated, “is only interested in creating impressions and making statements suggesting that it has taken the most generous and lavish measures of all EU member states, which is not true, not based on real data, but at the same time it doesn’t respond to the real needs that citizens, workers and society have to support themselves and cope as much as possible with this wave of unemployment.”

S.Stefanou also said that the “DISY government…is interested in the interests of the powerful which it serves with its policies, it is interested in how to serve the banks, but not interested at all in the conditions and standard of living of workers and ordinary people”.

He then blamed the government for “turning us back to times of unprecedented authoritarianism and arbitrariness, seeking to put the state under the control of DISY”.

“Everything in Cyprus points to the need for change. It needs a progressive change that ends the downward spiral, puts an end to the deadlocks and opens a new promising perspective for the country and the people”, he noted. Furthermore, he pointed out that the only way to achieve this is through a victory in the presidential elections. It is achieved, he said, “with the election in the presidential election of a progressive president with a progressive programme to turn the page in this country.”

It is well known, he said, that AKEL is engaged in its internal party procedures on the nomination of a candidate who can express this effort that AKEL is making and will continue to make up to the presidential elections.

“At the moment, at the party grassroots, we are discussing a proposal that we strongly believe meets these requirements and above all we are discussing a proposal that enables the necessary consensus, the necessary rallying of forces to fulfill the goal of a common course with other political and social forces in view of the upcoming presidential elections,” he said.

On behalf of AKEL, he continued, “I appeal to all those political forces that share with us the urgent need to achieve progressive change to join us in marching together so that we can achieve the goal of change”.

The proposal with Andreas Mavroyiannis as presidential candidate meets those requirements that can express the common conviction for change, the General Secretary of AKEL noted.