THE PRESIDENTIAL election race degenerated further yesterday, with the two biggest parties, AKEL and DISY, shying away from policy statements to engage in a bitter exchange concerning allegations of phone tapping and secret agents.
It all started on Saturday when DIKO deputy chairman Nicos Pittokopitis claimed an informant had briefed him on the contents of a telephone exchange between DISY and KISOS.
KISOS reacted angrily, accusing Pittokopitis of manufacturing lies. The DIKO deputy refused to comment any further on the matter.
But the issue was yesterday picked up by DISY Chairman Nicos Anastassiades who said he “expected those who for days on end spoke of ethics and political immorality to at least comment out of sensitivity”.
“It looks like change is the slogan simply for those who would bug our offices and have agents so that they know everything,” Anastassiades said.
He added: “It looks like some people are not working for change, but to create the conditions to come to power and satisfy the passion they seem to have.”
Anastassiades wondered why AKEL Chairman Demetris Christofias did not say anything about political ethics, adding: “Imagine what would happen if I said I had bugs in the offices of anyone and especially those I seek to co-operate with.”
“This is the real immorality and debasement of political life and those who tolerate and abet it are guilty,” Anastassiades added.
AKEL’s reply came shortly afterwards from its spokesman Nicos Katsourides, who condemned any kind of phone tapping, adding that Pittokopitis should not have said what he did on Saturday.
But Katsourides then counter-attacked, accusing Anastassiades of “selective sensitivity” and saying that the “DISY chairman’s memory has a terrifying adaptability and selectivity”.
“I haven’t heard Mr. Anastassiades take a stance when (DISY deputy Christos) Pourgourides complained that a minister of the Clerides government was tapping phones.
“I haven’t heard Mr. Anastassiades take a stance when (DISY deputy Eleni) Vrahimi reported that the DISY leadership was using KYP (intelligence service) and its potential to watch people and tap phones in past general elections.
“Nor have I heard Mr. Anastassiades take a stance when DISY deputy Nicos Tornaritis tabled the issue of phone tapping before the House,” Katsourides said.
AKEL on Sunday officially endorsed DIKO Chairman Tassos Papadopoulos for presidential candidate, while, on the other side, DISY is looking to back KISOS Chairman Yiannakis Omirou to lead a government of wide approval.
KISOS, who had initially entered a coalition with AKEL and DIKO, is expected to contest the elections with Omirou as candidate. Its central committee will convene to discuss the issue today. The final say belongs to the party’s national conference, which convenes on Sunday.
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