The candidacy of the AKEL secretary general for the presidency of the House is changing the balance of power. The leader of DIKO is unlikely to secure a place in the second round, as he cannot gather more votes than the DISY president. The stance of the Movement for Social Democracy is considered decisive, with the party indicating that it will decide at the last moment.
The Central Committee of AKEL backed the candidacy of its secretary general, Stefanos Stefanos, for the presidency of the House at yesterday’s meeting, putting an end to the scenario that had the party of the Left supporting the candidacy of DIKO president Nikolas Papadopoulos.
The decision of the Central Committee has shifted the balance, and the stance of the Movement for Social Democracy is now considered crucial. However, the picture is now much clearer, with the DISY president and the AKEL secretary general seen as the favourites to advance to the second and decisive round of the election.
Central Committee
The decision of the 120 members of AKEL’s Central Committee was taken unanimously through a voting process. The meeting started at 15:00 and lasted approximately three hours. Members of the party’s highest collective body were briefed on the actions and contacts of the leadership and on the concerns expressed at Tuesday’s Political Bureau meeting.
It is recalled that two trends had emerged within the Political Bureau of AKEL. One favoured supporting the candidacy of Nikolas Papadopoulos, on the basis that it could create prospects for cooperation with DIKO ahead of the 2028 presidential elections.
However, the prevailing trend supported the candidacy of Stefanos Stefanos, pointing to the risk of regression and internal divisions within AKEL, given that the party base did not respond positively to the idea of backing the DIKO leader. Strong disagreements between AKEL and DIKO on several issues, such as the taxation of bank windfall profits and the fact that Nikolas Papadopoulos leads a governing party, left little room for manoeuvre for the Left.
The phone call
Even members of the Central Committee were surprised by the draft announcement to be issued after the vote, which referred to support for the Stefanos Stefanos candidacy from the ALMA movement.
Information obtained by Politis indicates that there had been contact between the AKEL secretary general and the leader of the ALMA Movement shortly before the Central Committee meeting. Specifically, Mr Stefanos called Odysseas Michaelides to inform him of the direction events were taking, with the latter assuring him of the support of the movement’s four MPs.
This was preceded by a morning statement by MP Irene Charalambidou to Reporter, who clarified that she would support Stefanos Stefanos, ending speculation about backing Nikolas Papadopoulos.
With this data, the Central Committee decided to authorise “the Political Bureau to continue contacts and consultations with other parties by submitting the candidacy of Stefanos Stefanos.” With 15 AKEL MPs and four from ALMA, Stefanos’ candidacy secures 19 votes and appears to be moving into the second round.
The question
Before the Central Committee meeting, Stefanos Stefanos also communicated with the DIKO president. It remains unclear what was discussed yesterday, but more recent information about their previous exchanges indicates that Stefanos sounded out Nikolas Papadopoulos on whether he intended to withdraw from the government. The answer was that he saw no reason to do so.
Scenarios
Attention now turns to DIKO, which has eight MPs but has not taken a final decision in favour of Nikolas Papadopoulos. AKEL’s decision to contest the House presidency deprives the DIKO leader of 15 votes.
The only option for Mr Papadopoulos would be to secure the support of ELAM and the Movement for Social Democracy, enabling him to gather 20 votes and reach the second round alongside Stefanos Stefanos, excluding DISY president Annita Demetriou.
However, this is considered a highly remote scenario. ELAM has ruled out supporting Annita Demetriou but has not decided on backing Nikolas Papadopoulos. Its leader, Christos Christou, stated that in the first round the party will contest the presidency with himself as candidate. Only in the second round, he said, could supporting the DIKO leader become one of the possible scenarios.
Leaning towards Annita
Information suggests that the Movement for Social Democracy is leaning towards DISY. As a result, one scenario appears most likely. Annita Demetriou is expected to reach the second round with at least 21 votes, alongside Stefanos Stefanos with 19 votes.
In that case, ELAM would abstain, and the outcome would be decided by DIKO’s votes. The party of Nikolas Papadopoulos had stated before the elections that cooperation with DISY would continue, while expressing positions diametrically opposed to those of AKEL.
It also underlined that most government bills were passed with DISY support, while the two other governing parties are no longer represented in the new House.
As a result, it is considered politically unlikely that DIKO would support Stefanos Stefanos in the second round.
