THE new Zygos Independent Citizens Movement, formed specifically to expose and fight corruption in public life, will be fielding Member of Parliament candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections in hopes of getting people to vote outside their own party.
“No one believes politicians any more. People think our system is corrupt and there is no independent voice to represent them. We are here to give people an alternative choice,” said Zygos’ spokesman John Cannas.
If elected, Zygos’ MPs first act will be to propose a bill to reduce their own wages and other benefits currently available to MPs, said Cannas.
Zygos was founded in January by members who include academics, doctors and businessmen.
Zygos aims to support MP candidates who do not belong to a particular party in order to encourage people to vote for the best candidate, regardless of political affilations. “Corruption is rife and the latest polls show that this is what people think,” Cannas said. “Parties have too much power, as things stand. In order to be promoted as a party candidate you have to play by party rules, instead of serving the people who voted you in.”
A recent poll by the Cyprus University of Technology said that 70 per cent think that corruption is a major problem and almost everyone (90 per cent) think that politicians are corrupt.
In addition to corruption, Zygos feels that their party is urgently needed so that technically minded people can have a chance to act on problems which politicians have been procrastinating on.
“Our best minds are warning us that economic collapse is imminent. We have to do something about this now,” Cannas said.
Cannas urged people not to waste their votes by refusing to vote but to pool them together and vote for Zygos instead.
In a novel move, Zygos pledged “to keep the usual electoral campaigns at a minimum so that we don’t trouble people who will incur a lot of suffering in the next few months.” Instead, MP candidates, Zygos members and their families will plant trees, clean up various locations scattered around Cyprus and build parks.
Zygos has pledged to be completely transparent in regards to their financial affairs. Membership for Zygos lies at €25 but the fee is waived for those who cannot afford it.
Visit www.zygos.org to find out more (English version forthcoming).
