By Martin Hellicar
DIKO yesterday issued a final warning to “dissenting” members Alexis Galanos and Dinos Michaelides to tow the party line and support the candidacy of George Iacovou for the presidential elections.
The party executive committee warned Galanos, Michaelides and “all party members persisting in actively opposing Iacovou’s candidacy” that failure to comply would lead to their being ostracised.
Michaelides, vice-chairman of the centre-right party and former Interior Minister, has made no secret of his disaffection with Diko’s decision to join left-wing Akel in backing Iacovou. Diko deputy Galanos has gone further by submitting his own candidacy for next month’s elections.
Diko leader Spyros Kyprianou – his left arm in a plaster cast to set a fractured wrist he sustained by falling from a podium on Friday night – chaired a morning executive committee meeting to discuss the positions of Galanos and Michaelides.
In an announcement after the meeting, the committee stated
Michaelides’ “public opposition” to the Iacovou candidacy “creates a serious discipline issue.”
“We call on Mr Michaelides to clearly align himself with the party decision and contribute to the success of his party’s choice,” the executive committee stated.
The committee pulled no punches with Galanos. By submitting his own candidacy, it stated, Galanos had “in a political sense placed himself outside the party.”
“Mr Galanos still has the chance to think again… he can still return to the party ranks, provided he withdraws his candidacy,” the committee stated.
Galanos was defiant in response: “The party executive may decide what it wants. The final decision belongs to the electorate. It would be naive of the committee to believe I would change my stance concerning my candidacy.”
He said his conscience was clear about his candidacy. “It is not I who am deviating from Diko principles,” he said, implying the party was compromising its ideals by supporting an Akel-backed candidate.
Galanos again appealed for the votes of Diko followers and members who wanted a candidate from within the party. He said his candidacy “served the interests” of the “rank and file of Diko.”
There was no immediate response from Michaelides.
Meanwhile, Edek leader Vassos Lyssarides slammed fellow election candidates Iacovou and President Clerides for their failure to appear on televised election debates. He said their refusal to join in the debates was “an insult to the intelligence of the populace and an affront to the democratic principles that ought to dictate behaviour in the pre-election period.”
Clerides, who enjoys the backing of right-wing Disy and is therefore, along with Iacovou, front-runner for the elections, stated on Friday he was prepared to come face-to-face with his opponents in a TV debate.
The other names in the hat for the February 8 polls are George Vassiliou, leader of the United Democrats, Nicos Rolandis, leader of the Liberals, and Nicos Koutsou, leader of the New Horizons party.
