THE 2008 race shifted a gear last weekend, after the socialist allies in the government revealed President Tassos Papadopoulos had personally reassured them he would running for a second term in office.
On Sunday, EDEK’s Central Committee overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Papadopoulos option, even though the President himself has yet to officially announce his candidacy.
But speaking to reporters later in the day, party boss Yiannakis Omirou said Papadopoulos had told him he would stand for re-election.
The socialist leader went a step further, informing newsmen that Papadopoulos would be running whether or not he had the backing of all three coalition partners.
Meanwhile AKEL seems set on a course to back their own Demetris Christofias for the top job, after results coming in from the grass roots are giving him an approval rating of more than 80 per cent.
In early July, AKEL will decide whom to back next year, with Christofias and Papadopoulos the two main choices.
Many commentators are unconvinced, however, that Christofias is serious about running. Some speculate that this all is a theatre staged by AKEL, who they believe will not dare break up the coalition.
One survey conducted by the Cyprus College found that 50 per cent of AKEL supporters did not believe Christofias would stand.
According to media reports, one of the top reasons EDEK has rejected a possible Christofias nomination is a grudge against AKEL, who are held responsible for the socialists’ loss of the Defence Ministry portfolio last year.
At the time, AKEL had outright charged the socialists of practicing nepotism in the military to boost their numbers.
Relations between the government partners have been strained in recent weeks. The communists have pledged to support President Tassos Papadopoulos if the vote goes into a second round, and are angered that their allies are unwilling to do the same for Christofias.
In the meantime, there has been much talk of a reshuffle, ostensibly because if AKEL were to go their own way, their ministers would need to walk out of the government in the run-up to the elections.
Government Spokesman Vasilis Palmas yesterday categorically denied such scenarios existed. He also shot down rumours that the President had given EDEK and DIKO leaders a list of names for the possible successors to the AKEL ministers.
Adding to the hubbub, the European Party said yesterday it would be “interested” in occupying any of the ministries that might be vacated, assuming that they had in the meantime gone over to the Papadopoulos election camp.
The party’s deputy chairman Nikos Koutsou added, however, that they had not made up their mind yet, and that they were ruling out nothing, including backing MEP Ioannis Kasoulides.
“Obviously, though, if he [Kasoulides] is to be a moderniser of the Annan plan, then that would be a problem for us,” qualified Koutsou.
Kasoulides, a former Foreign Minister with the Clerides administration, is expected to announce his candidacy tomorrow, at a gathering on the grounds of the International State Fair in Nicosia.
DISY has not officially endorsed Kasoulides, but is more than likely to do so.
Yesterday, DISY chief Nicos Anastassiades launched a fierce attack on Papadopoulos, whom he accused of pursuing a “partitionist policy”.
“Anything but Tassos” seems to be the right-wing party’s motto in the 2008 vote.
Responding, Government Spokesman Vasilis Palmas said Anastasiades was up to his “typical sloganeering”.
