AKEL general secretary Stefanos Stefanou questioned on Wednesday whether ELAM was really in opposition, saying ELAM and the government were flirting, as AKEL weighs alliances for the 2028 presidential election.
Asked on ANT1’s midday programme whether AKEL counted ELAM among the opposition forces it could hold talks with, Stefanou questioned the premise, saying ELAM was not in opposition.
He also questioned whether ELAM offered any real criticism of the government, saying it was cautiously pro-government. “The government and ELAM are flirting,” he said.
On Monday, AKEL parliamentary spokesman Giorgos Loucaides told philenews that the only change in the political landscape since 2023 was the need to defend democracy against fascism and the far right. He said ELAM was now Cyprus’s third-largest party and risked becoming further normalised.
He warned of the danger of having “the henchman of Michaloliakos of the criminal Golden Dawn” on the same platform as President Nikos Christodoulides and Nikolas Papadopoulos.
On the presidential election, Stefanou said AKEL’s candidate would be chosen through the party’s collective procedures and dialogue with other political forces. The decision would not be made through personal arrangements, outside formal party channels or over a meal at a fish tavern, he said.
He said AKEL would first hold talks with its members and supporters, and with political forces seeking a change of government.
Asked whether he wanted to run himself, Stefanou did not answer directly, saying the issue was not about personal ambition but about whether a broader political alliance could be formed. AKEL was not excluding itself from that discussion, he said, and was neither ruling anyone in nor out.
He said priority would go to parties that describe themselves as opposition. Direct Democracy Cyprus, Volt, the Movement of Ecologists – Citizens’ Cooperation and EDEK came up in the discussion, and Stefanou noted objective difficulties because some parties are holding internal procedures and congresses.
On EDEK, he said AKEL would wait to see the political approach of the new leadership that emerges from its procedures. He did not rule out contacts with DIKO, but acknowledged a significant political difficulty because the party is in government.
