Former Democratic Rally (DISY) deputy leader Harris Georgiades has said he will not support Averof Neofytou if the former party leader becomes DISY’s candidate for President of the Republic. Georgiades accused Neofytou of political blackmail against the party and said Neofytou’s political positions differ from DISY’s.
In a long letter on Tuesday to DISY leader Annita Demetriou, Georgiades set out his decision and offered his resignation as president of the Glafcos Clerides Institute.
Demetriou said in a post on Tuesday afternoon that she would not accept his resignation, adding that problems are solved through dialogue, not resignations. She repeated that her personal decision had been aimed solely at keeping the party united, and called on everyone to rally behind the party, saying DISY must stay on a winning course and the members’ verdict must be fully respected.
Speaking on the Philenews Vidcast, Georgiades said the letter reflected a decision he had taken as soon as Demetriou’s intention not to seek the party’s nomination became known, and that he had explained his position to her from the start. He said things should have been handled better and the party should have prepared better for the presidential elections.
His position would not be the same if Giorgos Pamborides were the candidate, he said.
Georgiades said he had no intention of leaving DISY but had put himself at the disposal of the leadership to decide what to do, since he could not go along with the party if Neofytou were the candidate. Responding in advance to those who might call him divisive, he said he had not announced an independent candidacy or suggested he would bypass the party’s selection procedures. “All I’m saying is that I can’t have a role and I’ll go home,” he said.
Asked why he had not sought the nomination himself, Georgiades said several people had urged him to run, but there would have been no point in another candidate standing against Neofytou. He said he had spoken to Pamborides, who wanted to try to become the candidate himself.
He criticised the leadership for having no political planning or strategy for the elections, asking how DISY could head into them without internal political discussions, a plan or talks with other parties to see whether cooperation was possible. He questioned reports that DISY would seek cooperation with ALMA, Direct Democracy Cyprus and Volt, asking what the party had in common with them. Demetriou had been criticised for accepting Direct Democracy’s votes to be elected House president, he said, and the criticism might be justified as far as the video was concerned. He said the basis for centre-right cooperation existed and had been built up through political practice, but needed to be cultivated.
Georgiades said he was very worried, troubled and saddened. The situation had forced his decisions, he said, but events were also opening a deep gap between DISY and its supporters, which could not be closed by an artificial appeal to unity. He said he hoped he was wrong, and that his break with a possible Neofytou candidacy also related to the prospect of being in government in future.
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DISY parliamentary spokesman Demetris Demetriou said he disagreed with Georgiades’s stance and had not expected such an announcement. He told ANT1’s ‘Mera Mesimeri’ programme that the tactic did not help the climate the party wanted to create. However, he said: “Putting issues under the carpet is why we as a party got to this point.”
He said DISY was facing a new process, with a vote in a month, and that the members’ decision must be respected. It was wrong to rule out in advance a candidate chosen by the members, and party officials should not state publicly whom they back, he said. He added that Georgiades had raised other substantive issues, and that the party’s positions must be respected by everyone, particularly its candidate.
DISY deputy leader Yiannis Karousos described Georgiades’s letter as inappropriate and misguided, telling the same programme that it did not serve the party’s unity or interests. “I think Harris Georgiades should not have made this statement, but it is his right,” he said. Georgiades had an institutional role to play in DISY as president of the Glafcos Clerides Institute, he added.
Karousos said some people were trying to create tension during the party’s pre-election period, which provoked supporters and deepened introspection. He called on everyone to keep a low profile and said that anyone with an institutional role in the party had a duty to campaign for the candidate the members chose. He said he would help whoever was selected.
Former DISY parliamentary spokesman Nikos Tornaritis wrote in a post that when a whole course is built on marked cards, behind-the-scenes manoeuvring and blackmail, open or hidden, “chaos is not an accident. It is the inevitable result.” Whoever turns politics into a game of personal survival eventually undermines what they are supposed to serve, he wrote, adding that the bill would come not only to those who dealt the cards but to everyone.
