Back to the drawing board on candidates, Akel to meet Saturday

Akel’s politburo met on Friday to discuss the party’s position in the upcoming presidential election.

Reports said however, that the party’s central committee will hold a decisive session on Saturday where it could decide on whom to back in February’s poll.

Akel had selected businessman Mike Spanos but quickly dropped him after it transpired that his views on managing the economy were far from what the party could stomach.

Pro-reunification supporters have come to rely on Akel to come up with a viable candidate who can offer some hope and an alternative to incumbent Nicos Anastasiades, Diko chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos, and Citizens’ alliance boss Giorgos Lillikas.

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.