Disy to try to patch up differences again

RULING Disy are today to make yet another attempt to heal their growing rift over President Clerides’s reshuffle decisions.

All the principal members of the right-wing party will convene today to try to smooth over the cracks in party unity created by the row.

Disy deputies Prodromos Prodromou and Demetris Syllouris have rebelled by complaining that Clerides has handed too much power to George Vassiliou’s United Democrats (UD). Junior government partners UD have three cabinet seats.

Prodromou has not ceased his protestations despite being banished from the party political office by Disy leader Nicos Anastassiades. Syllouris has charged Anastassiades with trying to silence him by planting false stories in the press about his alleged desire to form a new party.

Anastassiades, who has pulled no punches in slamming the rebels, was at pains yesterday to promise there would be no “beheadings” at today’s conference.

Both Prodromou and Syllouris have accused Anastassiades of intolerance of those who fail to see eye-to-eye with him, but the party leader denied this yesterday. Everyone had a right to express an opinion, so long as this freedom to speak was not abused, he said.

He said opinion polls proved Disy was the most “modern” party on the island, and accusations of suppression of free speech were thus nonsense.

He also defended his record as Disy leader. “The last Presidential elections were won under the leadership of Nicos Anastassiades,” he said.

He could not resist another dig at the dissenters, insisting the size of the party rift was their fault.

“More mature thoughts by certain persons would have helped them to overcome problems created by their own behaviour,” he said.

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