COALITION PARTNER DIKO yesterday officially announced the candidacy of its leader Marios Garoyian for House Speaker, joining EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou in the two-horse race.
The omens, however, were not good for the centre right party as one of its voting deputies Zacharias Koulias failed to attend the meeting where the decision was taken to field the incumbent Speaker, Garoyian, in the June 2 elections. The party’s deputy president Giorgos Colocassides was the other notable no-show at the joint meeting of the executive office and parliamentary group.
As expected, within hours of DIKO spokesman Fotis Fotiou announcing the decision, AKEL’s central committee agreed to back Garoyian’s candidacy.
To keep Garoyian in power, the government coalition under normal circumstances would only need one more vote to add to AKEL’s 19 and DIKO’s nine in the 56-seat parliament.
That one vote could possibly come from the Greens who got Georgios Perdikis re-elected last Sunday. DISY’s 20 MPs and EVROKO’s two are unlikely to break rank and give a single vote to the AKEL-DIKO ticket while EDEK’s five MPs will most certainly be rooting for their own candidate.
But even if the Greens did agree to back Garoyian, he still wouldn’t get to keep the seat warm unless he puts his own house in order by next Thursday.
The state broadcaster yesterday cited sources saying renegade DIKO MP Koulias had no plans to vote for Garoyian. At the same time, it was reported that he will not waste his vote on June 2 with an abstention, giving Omirou’s camp food for thought.
Koulias allegedly blames the DIKO leader for adulterating the party line on the Cyprus problem and accuses him of working with President Demetris Christofias to bring back the Annan plan.
The same sources said Koulias instead proposed that the party field DIKO Vice-president Nicolas Papadopoulos or newly-elected MP Fytos Constantinou instead for House Speaker.
Asked by reporters whether Koulias would give his vote for the party leader, Fotiou said yesterday: “We haven’t been notified of Mr Koulias’ positions. Everyone can take responsibility for themselves in this party.”
He noted that Garoyian sent a letter to the rogue MP on Thursday asking him to clarify his position. “He has not responded to this letter,” said Fotiou.
The spokesman hinted that failure to support Garoyian would mean his inevitable expulsion from the party. “We expect our deputies and party officials to support the decision of the party’s collective organ,” he said.
According to CyBC, Papadopoulos and party official Chrysis Pantelides met with Koulias to discuss the issue. Pantelides said they were trying to “secure the unity of the party”.
He argued that removing Koulias from the party would not help the situation, while acknowledging that the party would have little choice if the MP sticks to his guns.
“It is a fact. Such an act would be the first in the history of the Cyprus republic. A deputy not supporting the party leader will unavoidably lead to his removal,” he said.
Fotiou also announced a DIKO proposal for the four parties considered to be centrist, DIKO, EDEK, EVROKO and the Greens, to create a permanent committee where they can coordinate on issues related to the Cyprus problem and domestic governance.
After meeting both Garoyian and Omirou, Greens leader Ioanna Panayiotou yesterday said her party preferred a candidate from the centre of the political spectrum and did not rule out Perdikis for the job.
She said the Greens’ central committee would decide who to back at its meeting on June 1.
