MEMBERS OF DIKO’s Executive Bureau last night voted by a majority to remain in the government coalition, a decision that will be put for ratification before the party’s central committee on Tuesday.
A heated debate – described as productive by party spokesman Fotis Fotiou – began at 10.30am and continued for nine hours. It ended with a vote on whether DIKO should stay in government with AKEL. Eighteen members voted for and eight against while four abstained.
“DIKO does not diverge from its positions on the Cyprus problem, disagreements with the president remain. We have decided to remain in the partnership to contribute to the country. If things are not going well we will re-evaluate our position,” Fotiou said.
Party leader Marios Garoyian began the session by reading out a letter written by Christofias regarding the future of the government partnership. He then proceeded to argue in favour of DIKO staying in government.
State broadcaster CyBC, last night reported that Christofias’ letter aimed to address the main concerns of the hard-line element within the party that was pushing to abandon government.
The most vocal party officials, including deputy leader Georgios Colocassides, vice-president Nicolas Papadopoulos and general secretary Kyriacos Kenevezos, have been calling for DIKO to walk out unless the president retracts contentious proposals from the negotiating table. The biggest concerns remain the rotating presidency in a federal government, weighted voting and the right of 50,000 Turkish settlers to remain on the island.
Earlier in the week, Garoyian and Christofias met twice in an effort to reach some sort of understanding on government policy towards the Cyprus problem which would help placate the more restless elements within the party.
The result was a letter to DIKO written by Christofias which reportedly highlights that the negotiations are an open process, giving the president, as chief negotiator, the ability to amend positions, add to them or replace them at any moment.
According to CyBC, Christofias also refers to the principles of a solution, as set out by the National Council last September, and to the letter he sent DIKO between the first and second week of the 2008 presidential elections.
There was also talk in yesterday’s Politis of satisfying a DIKO request to have a member on the negotiating team, with specific reference to Andreas Mavroyiannis, the current permanent representative of Cyprus to the European Commission in Brussels.
On the issue of domestic governance, the president reportedly spoke of formalising mechanisms for better coordination, consultation and understanding between the two parties, giving DIKO a greater say in domestic policy, while Christofias and Garoyian also agreed to meet more regularly.
If true, it seems the letter’s contents did not do enough to convince the group of party members who saw the removal of the rotating presidency proposal as a red line for any future collaboration with the government.
Parliamentary spokesman Andreas Angelides and DIKO deputy Stelios Ieronimides were both absent from the meeting as they were abroad though they are believed to have written their positions in letters.
Meanwhile, EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou, who recently led his party out of the government coalition, yesterday called on Christofias to withdraw the rotating presidency proposal which he argued was “not accepted by the overwhelming majority of Cypriot Hellenism”.
