What has been leaked since Sunday evening, that the President of the Republic will ask DISY to support Nikos Christodoulidis and participate in the government, allegedly increased the anger within DISY. The tense atmosphere during the many hours of the Politburo meeting, the presence of alarmist supporters who applauded Averof Neophyte and warned against supporting the “renegade” Nikos Christodoulidis, was neither accidental nor disorganized.

As well as, of course, the ridicule that Prodromos Prodromou received for claiming on the night before the elections that DISY should support Nikos Christodoulidis. In this atmosphere, which has been heating up for the last 24 hours, the President of the Republic has decided to finally abandon his presence in the Politburo and support Averof Neofit’s proposal for a voluntary vote in the second round of elections. , and DISY is in opposition from the next day.

What made a sensation, however, was that a small minority of DISY were in favor of Christodoulidis’ candidacy, with most of them talking about a voluntary vote, but even a vote in favor of Andreas Mavroyiannis. All this suggests that the next day is considered especially difficult for a party in power for ten years, and that the balance is now particularly precarious.

Requests an extension of the mandate – Photo by Mavroyiannis

DISY President Averof Neophytou was greeted with applause as he entered the Conference, demonstrating that he now has a strong team around him and that his momentum has not waned since losing and being eliminated from the second round.

Therefore, in this environment, he announced a pre-election conference on March 11, explaining how he would run. However, the question remained open whether the rest of the leadership would also leave her post.

Averof Neophytou put the text to a vote, which was allegedly agreed with the President of the Republic. The goal was to vote at will, and DISY was in opposition from the next day. However, during the close, he was especially emotional, saying that DISY did not lose this election, but won its principles and values. He also spoke of the Jews and the apostates, noting that he had no problem with the apostates who were before him, and inviting others to appear as he knew them. According to him, he has his own opinion, and he will not vote for whites, demonstrating that his own choice is to vote for Mavroyiannis. History forgets heroes, destroyers never, he stressed.

Although in the wells outside the conference hall, most of the leaders said that they would personally vote for Andreas Mavroyiannis, Kaiti Cleridou clearly supported him, talking about the need to defeat the mayor of Paphos Faidonas Faidonos, while Mavroyiannis also had an intention in favor of former MP Rikkos Mappouridis , as well as Ioannis Kasoulidis.

Haris called for the election of the entire leadership

DISY Deputy President Haris Georgiadis was appointed last. He said that the big mistake began with the arrival of Nikos Christodoulidis as Foreign Minister in 2018, because he had an unclear position on the Cyprus issue.

The fact that he was the only one who spoke of self-criticism, both for Christodoulides and others, made a splash. He demanded a pre-election conference for the entire leadership and made it clear that DISY should be in opposition. He certainly distinguished his story from other officials who photographed the vote for Mavroyiannis, emphasizing that if DISY had anything left, it was political reputation. We forgot we were talking about Christodoulidis and Mavroyiannis until last Saturday, he asked himself, largely answering the leaders who spoke about the destructive policies of AKEL and today’s underground support of Andreas Mavroyiannis.

What did Petridis photograph?

However, it is interesting that Finance Minister Konstantinos Petridis, in a stormy speech, photographed Andreas Mavroyiannis talking about personal excesses. He himself was glad, as he said, of the unity that prevailed in the Politburo, the unity against the apostate, especially since, according to him, until yesterday those present in the hall used other methods.

Responding to the position of Prodromos Prodromos, who rang the bell of AKEL’s “destructive policy” in the economy, he noted that the hodgepodge in support of Nikos Christodoulidis is just as dangerous.

Giannis Karousos spoke of the need not to reward the “renegade” and supported the optional vote, as did the Deputy Minister against President Petros Dimitriou.

Mayor Idalio Leontios Kallenos and MP Onoufrios Koullas opposed the candidacy of Christodoulidis.

Childhood Prodrom and tornarite

However, a sensation was caused by the fact that during the Politburo, the journalists present in the hall, and mainly the Minister of Education Prodromos Prodromou, who was scolded by officials for his position in favor of supporting Christodoulidis after the defeat of the elections, were insulted.

Nikos Tornaritis spoke about the voluntary vote, specifying that he would personally vote for Nikos Christodoulides, as a result of which those present supported him.

Former Larnaca MP Zaharias Zahariou also backed Nikos Christodoulidis.

DISY spokesman Dimitris Dimitriou argued that a vote of conscience is the least wrong decision and the wisest suggestion. Although this, according to him, is not a solution that suits a party like DISY, bold decisions and big changes. He raised the issue of historic defeat and how unity and modernization should be the goal from the next day to make DISY great again.

Voting by choice and DISY in opposition is a position supported by Michalis Sophocleous, Anastasia Antouzi, Annita Dimitriou, Michalis Hatzipantela and Efthymios Diplaros.

However, former Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulidis sent a letter to the president of DISY on Tuesday urging the party to have a significant presence in government. He even stressed that they have common positions on economic issues, as well as on foreign policy issues. While DISY refrained from responding to Nikos Christodoulidis’ letter, the latter was publicly supported by the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Agonist Association prior to the convening of the Politburo.

Stop Anastasiadis.

Support for the candidacy of Christodoulidis and the co-government of DISY was supported by the President of the Republic, Nikos Anastasiadis. The move deepened the rift between him and DISY President Averof Neophytos.

President Anastasiades intended to visit the Politburo, but after seeing the reaction of the leaders, he changed his mind. Instead, he agreed with the text prepared by the leadership for the extraordinary vote and with the decision to leave DISY in opposition.

Discussions for the Minister

However, DISY officials, who welcome the opportunity to personally vote for Mr. Mavroyiannis, are openly communicating with the candidate’s circle and asking to ensure that their chosen finance minister is not a leftist.

In an attempt to win over right-wing voters who are worried about the possibility of an AKEL government, Mr. Mavroyiannis decided on Wednesday to announce his appointment as finance minister. This was supposed to happen before the Politburo meeting, but they did not want it to be seen as interference in internal party affairs. As specified, he will not come from AKEL, but will have extensive experience in senior positions.

DISY leaders, however, consider the need to publish information about the Minister of Labor at the same time very important.