By Melina Demetriou
FOUR names appeared yesterday on the cards for the opposition coalition’s campaign for Nicosia mayor, plus one possible unnamed candidate.
Opposition parties AKEL, DIKO and KISOS on Thursday formed a coalition to fight the December 16 municipal elections.
The parties agreed to share out a total of 24 municipal posts, but have still not decided who they are going to back in the capital. Intensive discussions this week are to decide most of the coalition’s candidates, including the Nicosia one.
DIKO secretary general Andreas Angelides, whose party will get to name the Nicosia candidate, yesterday announced the names of four possible candidates: ” Stelios Ieronimides, Pavlos Theodotou, Nicos Mesaritis and George Collocassides.”
Angelides added there was another name on the list, but did not want to disclose it.
The only thing he revealed was that, ” this person stands somewhere between the right and the left and has always had good relations with DIKO” .
The secrecy shrouding the mystery fifth candidate suggests he or she might spark strong reactions, either positive or negative or both. There was speculation last night Angelides might have been referring to KISOS veteran Takis Hadjidemetriou.
AKEL and DIKO have applied pressure on KISOS to accept a proposal for its man to run for Nicosia Mayor while letting go of either the Strovolos or Paphos municipalities it currently holds.
After months of wrangling, KISOS turned down the proposal, but called the other two parties to back Hadjidemetriou irrespective of any horse-trading.
Angelides said yesterday that DIKO would make a final decision on the Nicosia candidate today or on Thursday.
Mesaritis confirmed yesterday he had expressed his interest in running for Nicosia mayor. He added he had a support group of between 10 and 20 people.
Collocassides, a young DIKO politician and failed candidate in the May Parliamentary elections, said yesterday he was not sure he wanted to stand for the Nicosia post.
” I have not been officially proposed, I was only asked if I was interested, “he clarified.
Meanwhile, DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades yesterday boasted his party ” does not share out posts with others but chooses the most competent candidates instead” .
Anastassiades compared the opposition coalition to the Cyprus Stock Market.
” It remains to be seen whether this effort is like the CSE, where many invested to become rich but instead lost everything. It’s all down to a stock market which is called ‘the people’s will’,”he argued.
KISOS leader Yiannakis Omirou dismissed Anastassiades’ comments.
He said the three opposition parties had agreed a political co-operation.
Some, however, are trying to portray this co-operation as something demonic, “he said.
DISY has already announced the names of 13 candidates to seek election to mayoral posts and today plans to announce eight or nine more. DISY is today expected to decide who will fight Demetris Condides, the coalition’s candidate in Limassol and current Mayor of the town.
But the ruling party was not the only one to criticise the opposition alliance yesterday.
Greens’ Representative George Perdikis accused the three parties of acting like ” shopkeepers” .
” Local authorities must not be entrapped in party politics,”Perdikis said.
Perdikis said his party would back Christakis Iossifides as candidate for Athienou Mayor and possibly Stelios Markides for Mesa Yitonia.
Perdikis said the Greens were looking for ” independent candidates”to support for several posts, including Nicosia.
Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou said yesterday that ministry officials were working at ” full speed”on preparations for the elections.
” At the moment we are working on the procedures for four elections: municipal, communal, school authority and refugee elections,”Christodoulou said. ” However, two of them, the school authorities and the refugee elections might be postponed. I’d say the school authorities elections will most probably be put off,”he added.
