Last week we presented the candidate for Mayor of Larnaca which AKEL, the Left and many other citizens are supporting, as well as our candidate list for the new Municipal city council and School Boards of the city. Our choices for Larnaca make the Left proud and above all, they respond the needs of the city and the citizens’ expectations. That is why it is with great pleasure that we present them to the citizens of Larnaca.
It is true that Larnaca has been harmed by the municipal administration of Mayor Louroutziatis, but also as a result of the policies implemented by the DISY- Anastasiades government. Perhaps the most striking example of Larnaca’s depreciation and denigration is the government’s decision to impose restrictions on the commercial activities of Larnaca’s port in order to serve the strategic investor in the port of Limassol. In other words, to ensure the profits of a private businessman who is active in another city, the government decided to strangle the city of Larnaca, its economy and dozens of jobs.
Larnaca therefore is entitled and needs to turn the page, to again take the path of progress, growth and transparency. Larnaca today needs a progressive, capable, honest and visionary Mayor who can give a new impetus for a new beginning in the city. This Mayor can and should be our comrade, Andreas Vyras. An honest man eager to work. Successful in his fields of activity and tested in positions of responsibility. With new ideas and progressive proposals, but also with a spirit that unites and does not divide Larnaca’s citizens through artificial divisions. With an open mind to listen to the people of the city, and translate their hopes in a project. A person that works collectively and not as if he is the one and only.
Next to the Mayor there must be a strong Municipal Group of the Left that will be the voice of assertions and creative proposals; the force that gives a social and environmental content in the people’s interests for the city’s development; the force that raises citizen’s everyday problems; the force that is ever-present in every corner of the city, that will examine municipal issues with a social perspective and defend the quality of life in the refugee settlements and neighborhoods; the force that will project new and effective proposals for the municipality’s social role, its cultural activity and for the integration of immigrants. We must have a Municipal Group of the Left that will struggle to create new, quality jobs that will work for democracy to function in practice through the participation of citizens in decisions about their city’s affairs.
The people who will staff the School Boards, which play an important role in the functioning and development of public schools in all their stages, must also have corresponding characteristics. We need people who are concerned and sensitive about Education, about school pupil’s health and safety; people familiar with the daily technical and material needs of our municipality’s schools and who are distinguished by their hard work and vision for the development of public education in our country.
This is the candidate list of AKEL-Left-New Forces!
A list composed of young people, together with experienced members of local government and the School Board, with honest and productive people, who live and breathe the pulse of the city. Our candidates have multifaceted social activity who convince people that they want to be elected to serve the city and its residents. There are people both of intellectual and manual labor who will offer service and will not gain anything out of a public post
Local government in Cyprus is at breaking point. The scandals and corruption have severely damaged local institutions. In addition, the government took decisions that are financially strangling municipalities dramatically, limiting their ability to function and carry out projects, while the Minister of Interior has literally dismantled the reform of local government.
In other cases, the government takes arbitrary decisions with regards local communities, in defiance of municipalities. Besides, Larnaca citizens recall the notorious phrase uttered by Nikos Anastasiades “Larnaca citizens will not tell me what to do” when the citizens of Larnaca were demanding that their voice be heard before decisions were taken about the port of Larnaca.
For this reason we need in Larnaca too, but also in each municipality in Cyprus, progressive Mayors and strong municipal groups of the Left in order to confront the Right’s conservative conception of local government.
We need to work and strive daily and tirelessly to fulfill the progressive vision of the Left for human cities with a human face, for a development that will serve its citizens, for democracy in decision-making and with a clean and transparent administration.
The Left has a tradition of action and creative contribution towards Local Government in Larnaca and beyond. The first elected mayor of Larnaca, our late comrade Georgos Christodoulides associated his name with the struggles against colonialism, the upgrading of people’s lives in the refugee camps after the 1974 coup and invasion and with his close ties with the people of the city.
Later on, Andreas Moyseos with ethos, modesty and diligence, left his mark on all the major projects that have been completed and are still being done in the city of Larnaca. Larnaca will again have its history and take this course of struggle. Larnaca is entitled to. The Left can turn the page for the city of Zenon and finally attain the position it deserves. It can elect Andreas Vyras as Mayor and further strengthen the Left in the municipal council and School Board of Larnaca. And we believe we will succeed!
This goal will become a reality through:
The call of unity and joint action we send out to all progressive forces of local society, to the non-affiliated citizens who care for the city and hope for a change on municipal matters.
The tireless work of cadres and members of the Party and the friends of the Left.
The optimism and enthusiasm befitting the members of AKEL.
The conviction and hope that this December will signal a new beginning for Larnaca!

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