Diko plan to quit coalition

By Andrew Adamides

DIKO yesterday served notice on their ailing government coalition partnership, saying it could not continue “under its current form”.

The party said it was ready for dialogue and “open to new political alliances”. It nevertheless left a window open to continue the old alliance as the contents of the statement – a result of a meeting of Diko’s executive office – have yet to be officially approved by the party’s central committee.

The statement came after the morning meeting between Diko leader Spyros Kyprianou and President Glafcos Clerides and an announcement by the government spokesman strongly hinting that Clerides would run in next year’s presidential election.

In his daily press briefing, spokesman Manolis Christofides said it would “make news if President Clerides is not a candidate for the presidential elections”.

He also repeated that Clerides would officially announce his final decision later this month and that “everybody should respect the President’s wish”.

Yesterday’s Diko statement added that the participation of Diko ministers in the Clerides government would be discussed by the party’s central committee after Clerides’ return from Edinburgh, where he is to attend the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.

The main dispute in the troubled Diko-Disy alliance has been over the candidacy for the elections. Kyprianou has already announced that he will stand, and has expressed dissatisfaction that Clerides has not yet clarified his intentions.

Last month, Kyprianou went on record as saying that if Clerides did run, the alliance would end. His statements came days after Clerides offered to back Kyprianou as candidate if he himself decided not to run. Kyprianou said Diko ministers had assured him they would abandon their posts if Clerides decided to run and added that Diko was under no obligation to support Clerides: on the contrary, Disy had a “moral obligation” to support Diko’s president.

Keeping all his options open, Kyprianou has also held preliminary meetings with other party leaders.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.