DISY last night withdrew its confidence in Paralimni mayor Nicos Vlittis, calling on the embattled official to resign from his post.
A defiant Vlittis replied there was no question of his resignation, saying he was accountable only to the people of Paralimni.
Announcing the decision after a lengthy meeting of the party’s political bureau, spokesman Tasos Mitsopoulos said the party had taken into account the report into alleged irregularities at the municipality carried out by the Auditor-general.
Mitsopoulos refused to go into what allegations were levelled against Vlittis in the report, saying the issue was purely one of political responsibility; he added the party’s decision was in no way prejudicial to any police investigation.
But Vlittis wondered why the leadership had not waited for the outcome of that investigation and blasted the “Limassol duo” of party leader Nicos Anastassiades and deputy Christos Pourgourides for “engineering” the “coup” against him.
The vote – 28 in favour of the proposal and five abstaining – came on a night of high drama after the Paralimni mayor had shown up uninvited at party headquarters, gatecrashing the meeting in a last-ditch bid to present his case.
Police were also called in to step up security after reports that three busloads of the mayor’s supporters were on their way from Paralimni to back their man in the capital. The buses never showed up.
Yesterday’s meeting came after weeks of controversy and allegations that Vlittis had fast-tracked lucrative building contracts to friends and relatives.
The Auditor-general’s report last week found sufficient evidence to warrant a police investigation into possible irregularities in the issuing of building permits by the Paralimni municipality.
The mayor denies any wrongdoing, attributing the allegations to a campaign at throwing him out of office.
On Friday, eight out of 10 Paralimni councillors had withdrawn their support for Vlittis, urging the mayor to resign and call new elections. Not all the dissenting councillors were affiliated to DISY; some AKEL-backed councillors have asked Vlittis to step down for the sake of “calm” in Paralimni.
Earlier yesterday, Vlittis had again protested his innocence, wondering why doing business with relatives should be considered a crime. “If that were the case, half the politicians in Cyprus would he held accountable, given the island’s small size and the fact that everyone knows everybody,” he told CyBC radio.
He conceded that “a couple” of permit applications may have been expedited, but said no laws had been broken in the process.
But it was still not clear yesterday whether the Auditor-general’s report pointed the finger at Vlittis personally or at his municipality in general. The mayor refuted allegations he was specifically named in the report, arguing he was being singled out by certain quarters for political reasons.
Vlittis has drawn heavy fire from Pourgourides, who has accused the Paralimni mayor of a lack of ethics in dealing with the controversy, saying he should have long since resigned. At a recent news conference, Vlittis came out guns blazing against the DISY leadership, saying they were bent on “eating him up”. The mayor also protested that the political bureau meeting would prejudice the party and the public against him before the police investigation was complete.
Party boss Anastassiades yesterday tried to downplay Vlittis’ version of the story. “Eat him up? What is he, a snack or something?” he joked.
But Anastassiades also suggested Vlittis was too prone to conspiracy theories. “Eight out of ten councillors — from all parties — want him out, so his allegations that this is being orchestrated by DISY are clearly unfounded.”
Speaking after last night’s decision, Pourgourides said the Vlittis case was now closed as far as the party was concerned.
“The Cypriot public has better things to worry about,” he added.
