Greens not keen on Diko, Citizens’ Alliance candidates

The Green Party said on Tuesday that more than half its members don’t want to back Diko leader Nicolas Papadopoulos or the Citizens’ Alliance chief Yiorgos Lillikas for president.

In a statement, the Greens said they asked party members to give their opinions on various issues. These included the criteria a presidential candidate should be judged on and their choice of options ahead of next year’s presidential elections – back either candidate, launch a separate bid for the presidency, or stay out of the race altogether.

“This method is the most democratic and direct way possible for party members to express their opinion, decisively assisting the bodies that will make the final decisions,” the statement said.

According to the figures released by the party, 32 per cent of members said the most important quality in a candidate should be his or her views on the environment.

Economic views and their stance on the Cyprus problem stance were tied at 24 per cent, while candidates’ social policy views landed at 18 per cent.

With regard to the party’s options in next year’s elections, 30 per cent of respondents said the party should back Papadopoulos, and 15 per cent expressed support for Lillikas.

Some 28 per cent said the party should field its own candidate, while the remaining 27 per cent thought the party should back no one.

“The results of our internal poll confirm that conditions are not yet mature for the party to make final decisions,” leader Yiorgos Perdikis said.

“Besides, developments in the Cyprus problem talks are expected to shape the campaign field. My view is that we have a long way to go until the elections.”

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.