Party accused of pre-booking flight to thwart overseas election voters

DISY yesterday accused an unspecified political party of pre-booking seats on Cyprus Airways flights from Greece so as to thwart its student supporters from flying home to vote in this Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

The accusation was made by DISY deputy leader Averoff Neophytou during a press conference yesterday, who called on the government’s intervention to put an end to the “unacceptable behaviour”.

Specifically Neophytou said a certain political party, which he would not name, had booked all seats on Cyprus Airways flights from Athens and Thessaloniki in an effort to stop DISY’s student supporters from coming back.

“They have reserved the seats for as long as they are legally allowed to and are creating problems for DISY,” he told reporters.

The Nicosia parliamentary candidate said he hoped the government would step in to solve the problem otherwise his party would provide the public with evidence on a daily basis so that “the people know the truth”.

Nevertheless he said the ploy would not work because DISY’s supporters would come across swimming if they had to.

Commenting on the accusation from Paphos AKEL leader Demetris Christofias said DISY, obviously in a “confused state” brought on by its impending defeat on Sunday, was making up stories to fanaticise its people. He also pointed out airlines unreserved bookings after some time and questioned if perhaps DISY was short of supporters flying in from abroad which was why it had made up the story in an effort to force parents to get their children over.

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.