By George Psyllides
WITH TEN days to go to the municipal elections, the two candidates for the highest position in Nicosia will tonight go head-to-head for the first time in a much-awaited televised debate that candidates in other cities fear will relegate them to the back seat.
The debate will be broadcast by three of the four channels, something that has raised eyebrows in some circles, who think the ” battle for Nicosia”has been exaggerated and raised to a ‘presidential’ status.
The long-awaited debate between the two candidates – opposition-backed lawyer Kypros Chrysostomides and independent DISY-backed candidate, Michalakis Zampelas, Chairman and Managing Partner of Ioannou-Zambelas & Co. PriceWaterhouseCoopers – has been a point of conflict between the two men for months.
Chrysostomides, who has the support of opposition parties AKEL, DIKO, and KISOS, was selected from a long list of candidates after several had refused the nomination, arguing the three parties were allying only to share out the local authority pie between them.
Zampelas, a fresh face on the political scene and admitted technocrat, has based his election campaign on his independent status (though he is supported by ruling DISY), and the need for the public to do away with party politics and vote for the candidate who will truly work for the welfare of the capital.
Chrysostomides accused Zampelas of being afraid to appear in a face-to-face debate, while Zampelas countered at that point that his opponent had not even presented his programme, and there was therefore nothing to discuss.
Zampelas also suggested that the debate between the two men should be broadcasted by several channels, an idea taken up by most of them.
Sigma, however, has said it will not broadcast the debate as it would be unfair to candidates in other towns.
Sigma’s action was explained by the station’s news director Dinos Menelaou.
Menelaou argued that, based on existing broadcasting legislation, the debate should be followed by the broadcast of similar discussions for all other candidates in all other towns, something which is impossible.
Menelaou wondered why the public had to be forced to watch the debate between the two Nicosia candidates, effectively being deprived of any other choice.
Whether the debate will actually produce any fireworks is open to doubt. Neither candidate is an incumbent so cannot accuse the other of past record, while a look at their programmes, printed in colour on glossy paper, does not reveal any big differences.
Both men identify the capital’s problems and provide long lists of proposals that aim to rectify them.
Improvement of road networks, creation of parks and sports centres, pavements and cultural centres, are but some of the promises given to the electorate in exchange for valuable votes.
But above all, both Chrysostomides and Zampelas focus on the municipality’s relations with its residents.
Complaint bureaus, emergency crews, public hearings, fast processing of complaints, are just some of the changes promised by the two candidates to reach out to the capital’s citizens.
The similarity of both programmes is expected to shift today’s discussion to the issue of having an experienced politician for mayor, as Chrysostomides’ supporters boast of their man, or a fresh face, a technocrat, like Zampelas.
Zampelas has since day one been saying he would do nothing to encourage the election becoming a party affair, something he accuses Chrysostomides of doing.
Chrysostomides has repeatedly emphasised the importance of parties in the concept of democracy and the fact that they should be held with respect.
But his opponents say his political record is hardly an example of the respect he is now touting. They point out Chrysostomides abandoned DIKO, after losing an internal election. He then agreed with EDEK to join the new social democratic party KISOS, only to abandon ship once more.
But the pre-election promises made by the two candidates are viewed from a different angle by outgoing Nicosia Mayor Lellos Demetriades, who has a word of caution for the candidates.
Demetriades, who has been in office for the past 30 years, told the Sunday Maillast week: ” All those promises that candidates make will prove empty words if they don’t find a way of getting more money from the government.”
