Tassos too busy decided on second term

PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos said that he has not yet decided upon whether or not he will run for a second five-year term in the February 2008 presidential elections.

“At this moment I am not at all preoccupied with the issue of a second term,” Papadopoulos said in an interview with daily Phileleftheros.

“Nor do I allow myself to think about how I should behave or how I should not behave in order to secure another term,” he added.

Striking a note of selfless dedication, Papadopoulos then alluded to the fact that his political duties overshadowed any personal ambitions that he might harbour.

“From the time that I begin directing my energies to the criteria or the requirements of what I need to do to win a second term, then I believe that I cannot do my job well.”

Presumably to give an example of his regard for country over self, Papadopoulos then said that he would support those policies that the population desired, even if, as he suggested, he knew better about what would be best for the health of the nation than his countrymen did.

“I will try to take measures or support positions that will soothe the ears and the desires of the citizens and not do what I think is the right thing. The two are not often the same. What is right does not often correspond with what the population wants.”

When asked to comment on recent statements by House speaker and AKEL head Demetris Christofias in which the communist leader left open the possibility that the he might run for president in the next elections, Papadopoulos replied that the three or more coalition parties would decide upon which candidate to support in the elections.

But he added that what Christofias had said was “self-evident and logical and in accordance with what was decided in the party session.”
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