FORMER Foreign Minister and DISY MEP Ioannis Kasoulides said yesterday he would decide in May whether he would contest the presidency in next year’s elections.
In a statement yesterday, Cassoulides said Cyprus needed to turn in a different direction than what was being offered today by the current government, and that his own presidential aspirations were well known.
“The direction of our country, however, is not an issue of personal choice or personal ambitions. In my view, neither is it an issue of compromises and deals made behind party closed doors,” the statement said.
Kasoulides said the current political system functioned like the bed of Procrustes, a mythical Greek giant who stretched or shortened captives to make them fit his beds. In politics, procrustean refers to methods of ensuring strict conformity by ruthless or arbitrary means.
“I believe that any politician that really wants to change things in Cyprus must shake up the status quo and fixed perceptions to lead the country into the modernity of the 21st century,” Kasoulides said, adding that this was something politicians rarely did; that and not hearing what the country’s citizens had to say.
“I want to hear the problems, the questions of everyday life, small and big.
I want to hear about health care in our hospitals, support for the needy, the growth of new technologies, research in our universities, care of the environment as a way of life, and the cracking down on corruption,” Kasoulides said.
“I want us to speak openly without taboos and party restrictions about out national problem.”
Kasoulides said that through an open and sincere dialogue in which he would do a lot more listening than talking, he would make his final decision on the elections in May. “This will also depend on you the citizens,” he added.
“My aim is to reach for the vision of a new Cyprus, a modern European, fair and honest country that does not leave us nailed to the past but building for the future of a European state that we deserve.”
Although nothing has been announced as to which party would be backing Kasoulides, if he does decide to go ahead, it is most likely to be opposition DISY, from whose ranks he emerged.
DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades said yesterday his party would decide in May who their candidate would be.
AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou said it was no secret that if Kasoulides ran for president, he would be backed by DISY.
