PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos will likely stand for re-election in February irrespective of whether he has the backing of all three coalition partners.
That was the consensus yesterday from political circles, 24 hours after the incumbent announced he was “interested” in running for a second term.
Papadopoulos has yet to officially announce his candidacy, but is widely expected to do so.
The President informed government allies of his intentions during an assembly of DIKO, AKEL and EDEK leaders at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.
“No conditions have been set that Mr Papadopoulos will run only if he has the backing of all three parties,” said socialist boss Yiannakis Omirou.
EDEK got the ball rolling over the weekend, when it offered its unconditional support to Papadopoulos’ candidacy.
But the sudden move received a cold welcome from senior coalition partners AKEL. The communist party, or quarters inside it, are said to be toying with the idea of nominating Demetris Christofias for the top job.
AKEL yesterday continued to put on a brave face, denying that EDEK’s manoeuvre had backed them into a corner.
It goes without saying that the communists’ withdrawal would leave the three-way coalition in tatters.
“Mr Papadopoulos’ candidacy is not contingent on the approval of all three coalition partners,” said AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou yesterday, in a comment that might be interpreted in more than one ways.
But according to political analyst Louis Igoumenides, talk of a Christofias candidacy is a smokescreen.
“There’s no way AKEL would break up the alliance. No chance,” Igoumenides told the Mail.
“There are three main reasons for that: first, no bona fide AKEL candidate would ever be supported by the other parties. This has always been the case.
“Second, I think the AKEL leadership is not so keen on assuming responsibility to govern the country. For instance, what policy would they pursue on the Cyprus problem? Papadopoulos’ policy?
“Say AKEL comes to power. As the government, they would be forced to implement the so-called ‘neo-liberal’ social and economic policies of the EU, which they frequently denounce. How would that go down with their grass roots?
“And third, AKEL has vowed to never collaborate with DISY in elections – a decision taken at the party’s last Pancyprian congress. So basically that leaves them with just one choice – maintain the three-way alliance. Because if they walk out, they will inevitably find themselves out of power.”
The communist party has said it will make its final decision on whom to back at their upcoming congress in July.
But Igoumenides thinks that the outcome of the vote is a foregone conclusion.
“I’ll tell you what will happen there: the leadership will handpick the conventioneers, and the result will be a resounding 95 percent in favour of Papadopoulos’ candidacy. There’s no chance the party apparatchiks would allow the congress to send out mixed signals,” said Igoumenides.
“They are just pretending to be annoyed with EDEK’s move,” he added.
In the opposition camp, a flurry of activity has gripped DISY, with reports yesterday suggesting the party might announce MEP Ioannis Kasoulides as their candidate sometime in the next few days.
DISY chief Nicos Anastassiades refused to be drawn on the Kasoulides nomination, saying it was “too premature… but we’re not ruling out anything.”
Asked why the rightwing party should not join the others in forming a government of national unity, as is its stated aim, Anastassiades said:
“Under Mr Papadopoulos there can be no national unity government, because he is the Ethnarch and the rest are his subjects.”
Late last night the party convened its Political Bureau, the top decision-making body.
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