Cyprus Election 2023 talks between AKEL and DIKO fail
DIKO announced late on Tuesday night that talks with AKEL over the potential collaboration for the 2023 presidential election have not had the desired result, adding that it will now consult with other parties.
The two parties had been discussing whether there was enough common ground between them, and whether they could agree on fielding a common candidate, but the DIKO announcement essentially signalled the failure to do so.
The announcement stated that it is with regret that talks with AKEL had not ended in the desired outcome. It added that DIKO will consult after Easter with other parties and independent candidates to chart its course forward.
The party’s secretary general Athos Antoniades told Alpha on Wednesday that “we will investigate the various proposals with the other parties and individuals, of whom Mr Christodoulides is clearly one of the people with whom we will have discussions.”
Former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides is keeping a low profile following his resignation after he was accused of running a covert presidential campaign.
Although he has not yet officially declared his candidacy, reports suggest he is currently in the process of organising his own election team and will be making relevant announcements.
Meanwhile, DISY leader Averof Neophytou’s candidacy received public endorsement by President Nicos Anastasiades late last month at a party conference.
“I’ll speak plainly, too, Mr Christodoulides is one of the candidates of whom we’ll analyse, we’ll hear his positions, his thoughts,” Antoniades said.
As for Neophytou, Antoniades said that nothing can be ruled out but that while the DISY leader’s platform has been put forth, DIKO had no part in this.
Some pointed out that DIKO appears to have taken the initiative in announcing what has been termed “the divorce” with AKEL in favour of issuing a joint announcement.
But AKEL’s parliamentary spokesman Giorgos Loucaides said “there is no divorce because to do that, first you have to get married.”
He added that it was always going to be a challenge to turn proposals into action, adding that the two parties have different priorities.
But Loucaides was pressed as to whether political differences really were the deciding factor – as it was pointed out that the positions of both parties on almost all the issues are already well known.
“The difficulties were firstly and mainly on who the candidate would be,” he replied, but added that previous talks had indicated that it would be possible to settle the issue.
“But as you understand, each candidate is politically charged… there is a political dowry attached, that’s where there were difficulties,” Loucaides said.
He declined to answer whether AKEL had put forth specific candidates, reasoning those further details would lead the discussion into becoming a blame game.
Loucaides said that he remains optimistic as regards AKEL’s presidential prospects, saying that opinion polls continue to show the public desiring a new start and a distancing from the current government’s course.
Notably, he said that AKEL is seeking a candidate with wider public acceptance – beyond party leaderships – saying that their priority is a candidate with broad trust and support from the electorate.
Antoniades stressed that no one was to blame for the failure to find a common candidate with AKEL, saying that real effort went into the honest discussions – from both parties.
He added that AKEL first wanted a list of potential candidates to be agreed upon before progressing onto analysing the key policy issues.
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