THE 2008 election campaign suddenly warmed up over the weekend, with socialists EDEK announcing they would back incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos if he decided to run for re-election.
EDEK are the junior coalition partners in the government. The decision is to be ratified by the party’s central committee, but that is seen as a mere formality.
Party boss Yiannakis Omirou said their support of Papadopoulos’ likely candidacy was the “logical move” as overall they were satisfied with the administration.
And he shot down speculation that EDEK’s was a “tactical manoeuvre”.
Papadopoulos himself has been keeping his cards close to his chest about running, although pundits say that is a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile senior partners AKEL, currently the strongest party in Cyprus, have not made their decision yet, with the communist party said to be mulling over nominating their own leader Demetris Christofias for the presidency.
In this sense, EDEK’s move on Sunday is seen as gathering momentum for Papadopoulos’ bid, in that it could lead to a snowball effect, with all the other dithering allies gradually joining the fray.
According to Omirou, the continuation of the three-way collaboration was paramount. In the event that Papadopoulos would not stand for re-election, he added, EDEK would back a common candidate from the coalition.
Nevertheless, Omirou did not rule out backing Christofias if Papadopoulos was out of the picture.
AKEL greeted the news cautiously, with party spokesman Andros Kyprianou hinting they were aggrieved with the fact EDEK reached their decision without consulting their government allies.
But he insisted that EDEK’s move did not back them into a corner, remarking:
“AKEL decides for AKEL, no one else.”
Adding to the hubbub, DISY deputy Christos Pourgourides yesterday reiterated that his party should back Christofias’ candidacy.
He said his proposal stemmed from a “cry of agony”, as Papadopoulos’ Cyprus policy had led the country dangerously close to partition.
“The situation is tragic. It is high time we stopped treating the Cyprus problem as a partisan issue to garner votes,” said Pourgourides.
The outspoken DISY deputy clarified that this was a “personal opinion”.
Some say Pourgourides is trying a sucker punch on AKEL – tricking the communist party into nominating Christofias as a rival to Papadopoulos, thus breaking up the government coalition.
It is generally acknowledged that DISY has no chance next year if the coalition stays intact.
However, the official line from DISY headquarters is that the government partners have already resolved to support Papadopoulos for a second term.
“It is our political judgment that AKEL and EDEK have predetermined what they want to do, and they are just using these PR ploys to sell their decision to their grass roots,” DISY deputy spokesman Harris Georgiades told the Mail.
“It’s up to them [AKEL] to prove us wrong,” he added.
Georgiades said that the main opposition party should be ready to start “soft-campaigning” by autumn, noting that the decision on whom to back would be made before the summer holidays.
In the legislative elections of last year, AKEL secured 31.1 per cent, the Democratic Party (DIKO) 17.9 per cent, and EDEK 8.9 per cent. DISY received 30.3 per cent of the popular vote.
Combined, the coalition parties would be able to re-elect Papadopoulos from the first round, as was the case in the 2003 presidentials.
DISY have been facing an uphill struggle ever since their stance in the April 2004 referendum, when they alone endorsed the UN re-unification plan.
