Omirou launches his leadership campaign

YIANNAKIS Omirou yesterday officially announced his candidacy for the KISOS leadership to be contested on July 22.

“I believe that if I am elected, it could ensure the safety of the future of KISOS,” said Omirou.

He said he believed the party needed a new beginning and said the July 22 elections would herald a historic period in the party’s history and would lead to a new era for the party.

Omirou pointed out that rival, Takis Hadjidemetriou was only willing to serve one term as president and that the outcome of the elections was a crucial time for the party.

Hadjidemetriou has said he would serve a single term to provide a transition leadership before handing over the party to younger hands.

But Omirou said this was a crucial time in Cyprus’ history with looming accession to the EU, and argued KISOS needs to have steady leadership over the duration of the period.

The election is to replace veteran party leader Vassos Lyssarides who stood down after the party’s dismal showing in the May 27 elections.

Omirou noted that if he was not elected, he would stand by KISOS and the new president.

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.