THE Central Committee of Socialist Party EDEK voted late last night by an overwhelming majority to quit the government coalition, responding to leader Yiannakis Omirou’s unequivocal call for withdrawal based on the party’s “total disagreement” with President Demetris Christiofias’ strategy on the Cyprus problem.
Omirou said that EDEK’s support for Christofias in the second round of the presidential elections in February 2008 had been given “on the basis of specific written commitments on the solution we want and call for”, but “unfortunately, we consider that those commitments have not been kept”.
“The President rescinded the 8 July (2007) agreement in practice,” he said and entered into direct negotiations with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat “without the existence of suitable grounds”, all of which EDEK had disagreed with.
However, Omirou said that, once Christofias decided to enter into negotiations, EDEK considered it its “patriotic duty” to support his efforts, but “for the 17 months since then, in our opinion the President has been following a mistaken strategy which the other side is using to its own advantage”, involving unilateral concessions such as the matter of the rotating presidency “which are not acceptable to the overwhelming majority of Cypriot Hellenism”.
Announcing the decision to the media after the meeting at the Cleopatra Hotel in Nicosia, Omirou said that the overwhelming vote in favour of withdrawal – 115 in favour, with eight votes against and three abstentions – had been taken “for the good of the country and its people”, adding that he had already informed the President.
Omirou confirmed that Agriculture Minister Michalis Polynikis and Communications and Works Minister Nicos Nicolaides will be tendering their resignations to President Christofias, but said that in line with common practice, EDEK will not be giving up its membership of the boards of various semi-governmental organisations.
EDEK’s decision now turns the spotlight on coalition partner DIKO, whose Executive Office meets today to make its own crucial strategic decision. The party has been riven by disagreement over continuing to support Christofias’ efforts to negotiate a solution to the Cyprus problem, with leader Marios Garoyian finding it increasingly difficult to rein in his party’s hard-liners.
Omirou said that EDEK’s withdrawal came after its own proposals had not been listened to, and the “Turkish side’s recent unacceptable confederative proposals essentially and openly muddy the waters for a solution”, and the “negative results” of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s recent visit “proved we were right”.
“The margin (for manoeuvre) has been exhausted. The course we are following is wrong,” he said. “The necessary national consensus is lacking. Not only are our proposals turned down, but very often they are received in a negative or even insulting way.”
Omirou said there was a national need for a change in strategy and tactics now.
“Our disagreement with the President’s strategy on the Cyprus problem is now total… We cannot co-operate over concessions that are unacceptable to us. We cannot endorse a strategy that is harmful. We cannot participate in a course that is leading us into a dead-end, nor hide behind this.”
The EDEK leader said: “It is politically responsible and ethically correct to withdraw from the government. For us to stay would have been politically paradoxical and ethically unacceptable, and contrary to EDEK’s principles and history.”
The EDEK leader ignored a reporter’s question on the timing of his party’s decision. However, a report in Sunday’s Politis newspaper suggested that the decision may have been driven by the results of an analysis carried out by PR expert and party member Costas Panagopoulos.
According to Politis, the main conclusions of the analysis pointed to three main benefits: EDEK would be seen to acting in a principled way by putting clear water between it and Christofias over the Cyprus problem; by withdrawing from the government, EDEK may be able to attract disaffected DIKO members; and, if in so doing the party’s results in the 2011 legislative elections push it up to third place, Omirou would improve his chances of claiming the presidency of the House of Representatives, and his party could play a the role of king-maker in the 2013 presidential election.
DIKO Vice-President Nicolas Papadopoulos said yesterday ahead of today’s meeting that “the outstanding issue for DIKO is to what extent we can continue to support a government which at the end of the day will present us with a solution to the Cyprus problem containing a rotating presidency.”
Papadopoulos added that he wondered how his party could hope to exert some influence over its demand for the proposal for a rotating presidency to be withdrawn from the negotiating table “when it has been agreed not only between President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, but has also been agreed in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during his visit”.
If DIKO’s Executive Office decides to recommend leaving the government, then the party’s Central Committee still has to approve the recommendation at its next meeting on February 16.
There was no immediate statement from the Presidential Palace last night. Speaking yesterday afternoon, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said that Christofias had agreed with the leaders of the main political parties to meet later this week and “talk everything through”. Stefanou said that “the various problems and complaints” would have been discussed, rejecting the suggestion that the President had not kept party leaders informed on the talks, and adding that “there are not complaints just on one side, there are some on the other, too”.
Anticipating EDEK’s decision to quit the government, Greens spokesman and MP George Perdikis said yesterday afternoon that he was surprised at the President’s “indifference” as he watched the government coalition break up, adding that “this is not the time for the internal front to break up, rather it is time for unity, and responsibility for this rests first and foremost with the President.”
