DISY leader Annita Demetriou on Thursday withdrew from the race for the party’s nomination for the 2028 presidential election, dramatically reshaping an internal contest that now appears set to become a two-way battle between Averof Neophytou and Giorgos Pamboridis.
Demetriou cited party unity and the risk of renewed division within DISY, insisting the decision was entirely her own. However, it followed intense behind-the-scenes discussions and hours of consultations at the party’s headquarters on Pindarou Street.
According to Politis information, those consultations initially involved close associates, before expanding to include former DISY president Averof Neophytou and, reportedly, Alithia newspaper publisher and Omega shareholder Frixos Koullermou. Later, the third contender for the nomination, Giorgos Pamboridis, also joined the discussions.
The hours leading to the decision
According to information obtained by Politis, Demetriou had been considering withdrawing for several days.
On Thursday morning, she informed the party’s Executive Bureau before personally telephoning the two rival contenders.
Her meeting with Neophytou began at around 2pm.
Sources said Koullermou was present from the outset and had spent recent days urging the party leadership to take what he viewed as a necessary decision by having the party leader step aside in the interest of unity.
The same sources described his intervention as supportive of Neophytou during the early stages of the discussions.
Pamboridis arrived at party headquarters shortly before 3pm.
The consultations lasted around two and a half hours. Koullermou was later seen leaving the building, after which the three politicians reportedly met to discuss procedural matters.
At around 5pm, Demetriou, Neophytou and Pamboridis descended together to the ground floor to address reporters.
According to Politis, Demetriou's condition for withdrawing was that both remaining candidates participate fully in the internal process and support whichever candidate is ultimately chosen by party members.
When asked whether her decision had been the result of pressure, she replied:
“This was my own proposal. No pressure.”
‘I will not allow DISY to be divided again’
Standing alongside the two contenders, Demetriou said Pamboridis had also supported the idea of a joint meeting since the previous day.
She repeated her belief that:
“The Democratic Rally must have its own candidate.”
Referring to concerns among party members, she said:
“I receive and understand their concern and anxiety about the risk of the Democratic Rally being divided again. That would be disastrous both for the party and for the country.”
She continued:
“I believe it is primarily my responsibility as president not to allow that to happen.”
Announcing her withdrawal, she said:
“As guardian of unity, I have reached my decision, my own decision, not to submit my candidacy for the party nomination.”
Pressed further by journalists, she reiterated:
“This was my own proposal, no pressure. We put everything on the table and discussed it.”
Demetriou admitted that, as party president, she had initially believed she should participate in the contest herself.
“Looking at developments, however, and precisely because there is no other margin at this moment,” she said, explaining her decision to step aside.
Asked about Neophytou’s recent claims regarding a “stacked deck”, she responded:
“I have an obligation as party president to safeguard the process. And that will be done.”
Neophytou: ‘Together we move forward’
Neophytou left party headquarters without making any public statement but later issued a written response.
He recalled that 10 days earlier he had aligned himself with what he described as a broad public call for a national awakening that would lift Cyprus out of “the nirvana of passivity”.
He said the people of DISY form the irreplaceable core of that wider movement and are also the guardians of party unity.
After praising what he called Demetriou’s “wise and responsible” decision, Neophytou concluded:
“Together we move forward.”
What happens next
Demetriou’s withdrawal significantly alters the balance ahead of the party’s nomination process.
Political observers see Neophytou as the immediate beneficiary, as the party leader, who had been expected to be his toughest opponent, is no longer in the race.
At the same time, Pamboridis, who only on Wednesday publicly suggested he was willing to withdraw for the sake of unity, now finds himself in a direct contest with the former party leader.
The latest developments also place responsibility on DISY’s leadership to guarantee a smooth and credible process, particularly after Neophytou himself questioned the fairness of the procedure only days ago.
The dispute over the process
Tensions within DISY escalated on 27 September, when Neophytou announced his candidacy for the presidency through a written statement without clarifying whether he would participate in the party’s official nomination process.
Two days later, Demetriou formally entered the race for the party nomination.
Neophytou subsequently intensified his criticism, referring to his experience during the 2023 election campaign and warning about what he described as a “stacked deck”.
When repeatedly asked whether he would participate in the internal procedure, he replied that he had “neither predetermined nor ruled out” any option.
He was absent from the party’s Political Bureau meeting on 2 October, having informed members by letter that he was abroad.
During that meeting, the body approved a two-week extension of the process, setting 26 October as the deadline for nominations and 28 November as the date for the extraordinary nationwide electoral assembly that will select the party’s candidate.
Pamboridis’ unity proposal
Pamboridis publicly proposed a compromise on Wednesday during an appearance on Politis radio’s Morning Briefing programme.
He called on all three contenders to sit around the same table before 26 October and jointly decide who was best positioned to unite the party.
“Averof without Annita and Pamboridis cannot win. Annita without Averof and Pamboridis cannot be elected. Pamboridis without Averof and Annita cannot be elected.”
He warned that a toxic internal contest would “water the tree of division instead of the tree of unity”.
Pamboridis even stated that he would withdraw if his own candidacy became an obstacle to unity.
The initiative was welcomed by party headquarters, although expectations for success remained limited.
Similar efforts by senior party figures over the summer, and again before the recent Political Bureau meeting, had yielded no result.
Until Wednesday, Neophytou’s camp also appeared cautious about the prospect of a compromise.
At the same time, influential party figures were warning that DISY risked seeing its candidate miss the second round of a presidential election for a second consecutive time, as happened in 2023.
