ALECOS MARKIDES’ decision to run against President Glafcos Clerides has sparked conflict within DISY, as both men come from the same party. This is despite Markides’ saying his candidacy was independent.
DISY’s political bureau has already said it would support Clerides though the final decision would be taken by the party’s supreme council on Saturday.
The initial decision to support Clerides did not go unopposed, with several members openly voicing their support for Markides.
DISY deputy Prodromos Prodromou said yesterday that he did not see any reason why Clerides, at 85, should go through the election ordeal.
Prodromou urged Clerides to rethink his decision to run and others not to put him through this.
“He does not deserve such a thing,” Prodromou said.
He suggested Markides’ candidacy was satisfactory for DISY and added the party should not be forced to make a decision excluding one or the other candidates.
Prodromou proposed instead that the party should act as mediators in a meeting between Clerides and Markides in which both candidates sat together and decided on who should run in the elections.
“I believe it should be Markides,” Prodromou said.
He said Markides could not only be supported by DISY but all the people as he was an independent.
It would be “wrong and unthinkable” for the supreme council to exclude one of the two.
He added: “We should try and get one of the two to step down.”
Ionas Nicolaou, another dissident deputy, accused the President’s cronies of not thinking about this when they pressured Clerides to seek re-election.
“They should have acted to prevent this situation,” Nicolaou said.
Nicolaou declined to name those he claimed put pressure on the President adding that the people would now face a dilemma, which could only hurt unity.
“For the sake of unity and nothing more; because at this moment not only DISY supporters but Cypriots in general would face the dilemma of choosing between two close associates who handled the policy that got the results in Copenhagen,” Nicolaou said.
“This dilemma should have been avoided, he added.
DISY chief Nicos Anastassiades however is certain not to go for the Markides option as he has already expressed his support for Clerides.
Anastassiades said Markides did not have the right political judgement when he decided to run against Clerides.
“He is not one who lacks brains; what I don’t credit him with is the right political judgement,” Anastassiades said.
He said it was not the first time actions taken without serious consideration have led to bad outcomes and said Markides should have respected the leader he had co-operated with for so many years and at this point to recognise him and stand by his side.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
