By Angelos Anastasiou
MANY hope that in the Paphos Mayoral election a trend will continue of declining support for the big political parties who are widely held responsible for the Paphos scandals.
One candidate, 34-year-old academic Andreas Masouras, represents a new generation that wants to make a clean break with the past and is doing things differently.
Masouras is untainted as he is neither from a big political party nor held any position in the Paphos administration. His candidacy, supported by the Independent Free Citizens’ Movement and the Green party, runs under the slogan “Paphos needs an overturn”, which speaks volumes of his focus and priorities.
“I am clean,” Masouras said on why people should vote for him. “Neither I nor my party have been part of the Paphos shenanigans [the Greens did not secure a seat on the municipal council in the last elections], and the Greens were the only ones that have been shouting all these years about corruption and the need for transparency – unfortunately falling on deaf ears.”
As a young lecturer at Neapolis University, he is close to young people and has innovative ideas for change. Strongly anti-corruption, he has published his assets and called on all candidates to do the same.
Masouras urges voters to create the Paphos they deserve, not continue slavishly to support the big political parties. He has a double-decker “Bus of Change” as his campaign HQs and highlights his policies for transparency, sustainable tourism and development.
“We have held public consultations, which have produced realistic proposals,” he said. “We cannot stress the need for transparency enough. We feel that a return to growth not coupled with full transparency will simply result in another bubble. Another pillar of our strategy is lowering municipal taxes on family businesses – so far, these have been calculated on the basis of estimates by the Paphos Sewage Board, which have proven inflated.”
On January 4, Masouras will be at the Paphos Green party Vassilopita New Year ceremony, 4pm at Cava Café near the old market. All are welcome to attend.
Masouras is holding a meeting for English-speaking residents on Thursday, January 8, at 6 pm, at the Axiothea Hotel. Pegeia municipality councillor Linda Leblanc will chair the meeting, where voters can ask him questions and receive information about the voting ballots. For information, call 26-621272.
