AKEL general secretary Stefanos Stefanou said he had some ideas in mind for the 2028 presidential election which he would put up for discussion, but said no names were yet in play when asked about economist Tasos Yiasemides, whose name has been floated as a possible candidate with broad opposition support.
Speaking on Alpha’s ‘Bras De Fer’ programme, Stefanou neither ruled out nor endorsed a possible independent candidacy by Andreas Mavroyiannis. He also gave his account of talks in 2023 over possible support for Giorgos Pamborides, who is now seeking DISY’s nomination.
Asked whether he had anything in mind for 2028, Stefanou did not make clear whether his ideas included a candidate’s name. He said the aim was to win the presidential election, which he believed would end 13 years in opposition.
Yiasemides and Mavroyiannis
On the party’s choice for 2028, Stefanou referred to a name he had in mind which could be put forward for discussion in the party’s collective bodies.
Yiasemides’s name has been widely discussed behind the scenes in recent weeks as someone who could draw broad support from opposition parties such as AKEL and ALMA, as well as EDEK, which is currently in the government camp. Asked about him, Stefanou said: “No name is in play, in the sense that we haven’t dealt with that yet.”
On Mavroyiannis, Stefanou said he was neither ruled out nor favoured in advance. Mavroyiannis could not be ruled out, he said, given his presence, his cooperation with AKEL in 2023 and his positioning in the camp of progressive change. He added that Mavroyiannis was independent and that he would not tell him what to do.
Pamborides in 2023
Stefanou was asked about Pamborides, a former health minister, and whether AKEL could back him if he wins DISY’s nomination, given that in 2023 his name was discussed as someone who could draw support from parties seeking a change from the Anastasiades government.
He said Pamborides’s name had been on the table but argued that it had merely been raised in discussion by DIKO. He said AKEL had asked DIKO to clarify information circulating at the time that put the former minister in the frame for possible cooperation.
Pamborides has said in recent statements that he was approached at the time through a joint effort by DIKO, AKEL and other parties, but that it became clear at a relatively early stage that cooperation was not possible, and the talks ended there.
Philenews has previously reported that AKEL’s rejection of Pamborides as a candidate followed intense behind-the-scenes manoeuvring. Soundings showed serious objections among party members to backing someone who came from DISY and had served in the Anastasiades administration. The strong public reaction of Irene Charalambides, then an AKEL parliament member, is believed to have contributed. She had said Pamborides could not be AKEL’s candidate because he had been disparaging about the party and former president Demetris Christofias.
This is why AKEL officials are now criticising recent statements by Charalambides in which she said she considers former DISY leader Averof Neofytou capable of governing the country. They say she is contradicting herself, having cited political and ideological reasons in Pamborides’s case while considering the former DISY leader fit to govern.
