By Angelos Anastasiou
DIKO leader Nicolas Papadopoulos’ strategy of enlisting high profile individuals associated with other parties, as well as former DIKO members who were evicted by the previous leadership, to run as candidates in the upcoming legislative elections in May, has drawn criticism from members who view them as a threat.
Many party officials have announced their refusal to run, including former leader Marios Garoyian, deputy leader Marcos Kyprianou, sitting MP Athina Kyriakidou, and vice-chairman and former Health minister Christos Patsalides, all citing disagreements with the party’s leadership.
In a bid to strengthen the ticket, the party has thus far recruited former AKEL two-term deputy Kyriacos Tyrimos, who was kicked out of the communist party in 2009, prominent AKEL member Andreas Fantis, former spokeswoman for the Greens Eleni Chrysostomou, and is reportedly seeking to lure back independent MP Zacharias Koulias and former deputy and MEP Marios Matsakis.
Reaction to Papadopoulos’ plans has been voiced by former MEP Antigoni Papadopoulou, who has been reportedly eyeing a spot on the Nicosia ticket.
“Unfortunately, what we are seeing is that we have not learned to reward those who really work for the people, and have been consistent in their views,” she told Politis radio.
“Oftentimes we see people leave a party for a spot on the ticket of another party. So, instead of rewarding consistency, we are rewarding someone who has decided to join the opposite camp.”
Papadopoulou said she has not yet made a decision whether to run or not.
“I don’t like ‘fixed’ games,” she said.
“I’ve lived them. And I’ve lived through stabs in the back.”
She added that she considered it important for prominent members to have been “invited and persuaded” by the leadership to “fight for the party’s principles”.
DIKO’s deputy in Limassol, Angelos Votsis, who may find his seat in jeopardy should the party run Matsakis opposite him in the coastal town, has also referred to “rewarding defection”.
Matsakis’ return to politics was marked by his appearance on a late-night talk-show on Plus TV on Tuesday night.
During the programme, he defended his most talked-about antics throughout his political career and acknowledged that running in the 2008 presidential elections – in which then-President Tassos Papadopoulos narrowly missed participating in the run-off election – as an independent had been his single biggest mistake, but declined to confirm or deny rumours that he might make a comeback in May’s elections.
Meanwhile, daily Politis reported that DIKO’s Famagusta committee members warned they will sit the campaign out, should the party allow Koulias back on the ticket.
The outspoken Famagustan deputy found himself without a party in 2011, after he refused to endorse Marios Garoyian’s candidacy for House Speaker, casting the deciding vote that elected then-EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou as chairman of the House.
Despite subsequent deliberations with the Citizens’ Alliance, Koulias never joined another party, remaining an independent MP.
