DIKO president Nikolas Papadopoulos left open the question of whether he will contest the presidency of the House, placing emphasis on the need for political cooperation for the functioning of the new parliament, speaking on Politis radio 107.6 and 97.6 and on the programme Morning Review with Katerina Eliadi.
Referring to the process for the House presidency, he noted that the party “is assessing the intentions of the parties and will take a corresponding decision”, adding that final decisions will be taken collectively by the secretariat and the parliamentary group.
As he said, he had discussions with DISY president Annita Demetriou on the functioning of the House, the formation of committees and the presidency, noting that “we exchanged views”. At the same time, he avoided revealing details, saying that “it is not right to say publicly what was discussed in private.”
The DIKO leader underlined that the issue is political and that “we seek cooperation, it is a difficult undertaking and requires cooperation”, while noting that the intention for cooperation “applies from now and is not connected to the presidency of the House.”
In the same context, he made clear that DIKO will seek contacts with all parties. “Of course we will meet ELAM, we will not exclude any party and we will seek contacts with all parties,” he said, also revealing that there had been a meeting with Fidias Panayiotou.
Referring to the election result, he said that “these elections have sent a clear message,” stressing that DIKO “does not consider that it has received a free pass.”
In relation to opinion polls, he argued that traditional parties managed to increase their cohesion, while rejecting criticism about voter intimidation. “We did not intimidate the public. We conveyed a sincere view that the country needs stability and the public understood it,” he said.
Nikolas Papadopoulos described DIKO as “the only governing party in the House and the only centrist one,” speaking of a “very heavy responsibility” to represent the political centre.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the government “has made mistakes” and that “there is wear,” however he assessed that “overall there is a positive balance and this worked positively for the party.”
He also stressed that “there was never an issue of leaving the government” and that “now our role is even more important.”
Finally, referring to the centrist space, he said that DIKO is committed to taking initiatives to unite it, noting that “there is much more that unites us” with parties that remained outside parliament, such as DIPA, EDEK, the Ecologists and the Hunters.
