The Democratic Rally (Disy) is confident that two candidacies for the party's nomination for the 2028 presidential election will be submitted on Monday 26 October, ruling out any last-minute surprises. A brief social media post by Averof Neophytou has, however, revived questions over whether the former party leader will see the internal process through to the end. Disy's headquarters on Pindarou Street expects to receive on Friday 23 October the lists of supporters' signatures for both contenders, Neophytou and MP George Pamborides. The lists will be handed for checking to the electoral committee set up by the party's Political Bureau earlier this month, when it finalised the timetable for the process.
The signatures will be entered into an online platform that automatically flags any that are invalid. Party sources explained that this leaves time until Monday morning to correct any problems before the candidacies are formally submitted. Each candidacy requires 500 member signatures, 100 of which must come from members of the Political Bureau. The Political Bureau had also adopted a proposal by party president Annita Demetriou that members of the party's collective bodies sign for all contenders, to ease concerns over gathering them.
A "very important day"
Neophytou posted a photo of himself in a video studio, in front of a camera and a green screen, with the sole caption "A very important day…" and no further explanation. According to information, the shoot was for the video in which he will announce his decision. The post was read in light of the press conference he held last Friday at his political office in Strovolos. Although it was called to discuss the cost of living, reporters' questions kept returning to his intentions. Neophytou avoided saying directly whether he will run through Disy and said he would address party matters within the week. He said he had had his signatures ready for three months, and when asked whether his cost-of-living proposals reflected Disy's positions, he replied that he was putting them forward as an active citizen and a candidate for the presidency of the Republic. He repeated, however, that he had given his word of honour never to harm the party or his fellow members.
The prospect of a solo run
Circles following developments closely believe that the former leader's communication strategy, which avoids an explicit commitment and presents him as a presidential candidate without party affiliation, suggests he intends to stay in the race to the end, possibly outside Disy after the November vote. Neophytou announced on 27 September that he was running for the presidency, before deciding to enter the party's internal process. The Political Bureau had unanimously called on all potential contenders to state publicly that they would respect the members' verdict.
Pamborides and the signatures
Unlike Neophytou, Pamborides has not yet completed collecting the 500 signatures. Speaking on CyBC's Third Programme on Wednesday, he said he was very close to the total and was not ashamed to admit he was facing difficulties. As he had explained in an earlier television appearance, the problem lies not in the overall number but in the distribution by district, with a surplus of signatures in some districts and room still to fill in others. The MP, who announced his candidacy on 5 October, has also given members the option of signing in support of his bid online.
Pamborides sharply criticised the party's statutory requirement of 500 signatures. He argued that anyone outside the party machine would inevitably struggle to gather so many member signatures in two and a half weeks, particularly with specific quotas for each district. In his view, those who drafted the provision wanted to keep people who do not make a living from politics away from internal party developments. "They wanted to strengthen their fiefdom," he said, noting that a candidacy for the presidential election requires 100 signatures, while the Disy nomination requires five times as many.
The Anastasiades proposal and an apology
Pamborides also commented on former president Nicos Anastasiades' proposal for a pre-election agreement between Disy and President Nikos Christodoulides, under which whichever of the two fails to reach the second round would back the other under strict terms of cooperation. For the MP, the precondition for any such arrangement is that Christodoulides first apologises for the disappointment he caused Disy's base when he chose to turn his back on it in 2023. On his meeting with Anastasiades, he explained that he had been in contact with all the party's senior historical figures to inform them of his decision, and that his meeting with the former president took place after he announced his candidacy because Anastasiades had been abroad.
