Akel-backed independent candidate Stavros Malas is estimated to finish second in the first round of the presidential elections, but is still very close to Diko leader Nicolas Papadopoulos in third place, according to the latest opinion polls.
President Nicos Anastasiades continues to be seen as the winner and is expected to run against Malas in the run off.
According to the latest poll by Symmetron Market Research, which was presented by Alpha TV on Wednesday night, Anastasiades makes it to the run off with 34.2 per cent of the vote, where he would run against Malas, who is estimated to receive 23.1 per cent, a mere half point ahead of Papadopoulos.
In another poll by A-MCI Consulting IKE, published by daily Politis on Thursday, Anastasiades is estimated to win the first round with 33.1 per cent, trailed by Malas at 17.8 per cent, 2.7 points ahead of Papadopoulos.
Last week, two polls showed Papadopoulos edging ahead of Malas, while another showed Malas in second place.
With the first round less than 10 days away, the real race is between Papadopoulos and Malas for a place in the second round.
Malas, who had promised to take the high road during the election campaign and not stoop to mudslinging, threw down the gauntlet to Papadopoulos on Wednesday after the Diko leader criticised him during his address at a mass rally earlier in the week for having “a credibility problem,” since he was a minister for the Christofias government “which drove us to bankruptcy.”
Malas said he would not take credibility lessons from Papadopoulos, who for five years sided with the economic policy of the Anastasiades administration “which has crushed both the workers and the middle class”. The same two categories of people that Papadopoulos is currently pretending to be their defender, Malas said.
In response, Chrysis Pantelides from Papadopoulos’ camp said that on the contrary it is Malas’ candidacy that has “risen from the past” and that it cannot meet today’s needs and the demands of tomorrow.
Malas, Pantelides said, has been a candidate MP for the United Democrats and for Akel, a minister under the Christofias administration and presidential candidate in 2013.
When Papadopoulos warned against Christofias’ “disastrous economic policy”, Malas was backing it, Pantelides said. He added that Malas also backed Anastasiades’ “dangerous policy on the Cyprus problem”, with which Papadopoulos disagrees.
While Papadopoulos’ New Strategy makes proposals for the settlement of the Cyprus problem, reinstating the middle class and growth of the economy, “Malas is asking us to go back to failed recipes of yesteryear”, Pantelides said.
Malas’ camp shot back, saying that Papadopoulos is willing to forget that he is the one who had been voting for more than four years for “failed recipes” by siding with the Anastasiades government and that he had admitted that in the 2013 presidential elections he had voted for Anastasiades. Today he asks for change.
“A candidate risen from yesteryear is the one who, in 2018, uses old-party methods by making promises which he knows very well are dud cheques,” Malas’ camp said.
It added that Malas will continue to share his vision and plans for tomorrow with the citizens “with seriousness, responsibility, realism and credibility”.
