Annita Demetriou’s decision to step aside was intended to bring stability to the Democratic Rally (DISY), yet the first 24 hours showed the situation within the party becoming increasingly fluid. The party president spent Friday defending a decision she insisted she had taken on her own. Giorgos Pamboridis, however, publicly revealed what happened behind the scenes at Pindarou, turning his fire on Frixos Koulermos, publisher of Alithia and major shareholder of Omega, and through him on Averof Neophytou.
Possible new candidacies
As for possible new candidacies, former justice minister Ionas Nicolaou confirmed that he had requested the signature form. However, a source in a strong position within DISY rules out the possibility of him ultimately running.
There were, of course, other whispers about people possibly interested in the nomination, including Loucas Fourlas and Harris Georgiades. Taken together with what was said on Friday, the picture that emerges differs noticeably from Thursday’s, after Demetriou’s announcement, and shows that the situation in DISY remains fluid.
Annita Demetriou’s move
The withdrawal was a strategic move. The DISY president is presenting it not as a defeat but as an act of responsibility, one that allows her to move from contender to guarantor of the process. She categorically rejects claims that she was pressured or blackmailed. She spoke of relief, and of a grassroots base that wanted a way out of division, and she insists the decision was hers alone.
Readings of her actions, however, do not coincide:
- A compromise. For some party officials, it amounts to a compromise, or even to Demetriou being forced into the decision to withdraw.
- An early mistake. Others believe the mistake was made at the outset. Her announcement came two days after Averof Neophytou’s and drew her into a contest she could not control.
- A difficult decision. Some congratulate her on a difficult decision which, in their view, protects unity. First among them is Giorgos Pamboridis himself.
Michalis Sophocleous, speaking on Radio Politis, rejected the interpretation of the president’s move as a sacrifice. Officials such as Sophocleous point out that she retains the presidency of the party and of the House, as well as a strong path towards the much-desired unity within the party.
At the same time, officials criticise her for handling the matter as a personal affair, without bringing it before the party’s collective bodies. She maintains there were no conditions. According to Pamboridis, however, when she withdrew her candidacy she asked Neophytou for an assurance that he would enter the internal party process.
The big unanswered question is how decisive outside factors were. The president describes Koulermos as a veteran party figure who sits at the table like anyone else. Sophocleous sees him as a person of standing who speaks to everyone. A source within DISY, however, describes him as pressing persistently for days for her withdrawal. It was also reported that the president came under pressure on the argument of her electability.
Pamboridis’s criticism
Pamboridis believes her victory was almost certain and that she was subjected to coordinated undermining. Now the remaining contender for the DISY nomination, he is addressing Demetriou’s supporters directly. He is claiming the role of natural recipient of a base left without a candidate.
His statement that he had been willing to withdraw only in her favour, and not in favour of Neophytou, rounded off his position on Friday. From the same starting point, he attributed rumours that he too would withdraw to artificial leaks. He promised a “healing” rather than divisive internal process.
The other side of the same strategy is his confrontation with the former president. Pamboridis made a pointed reference to Neophytou’s “guardian”, who had accompanied him to the meeting from the start. He also described how Koulermos urged Pamboridis himself to step back.
Pamboridis shifted the debate onto the terrain of extra-institutional interventions, and presented himself as the candidate who went to the meeting alone. Here, however, there is a contradiction. The moves he denounces are the same ones that opened the way for his own head-to-head contest with Neophytou and freed up the president’s supporters. His criticism of the process is politically useful, but it can hardly conceal that he benefits from its outcome.
Averof Neophytou’s next steps
The former president left Pindarou on Thursday with what he had been seeking: no president running against him. DISY sources consider him the favourite, and the first signs of support from various party officials have already emerged.
The same sources note, however, that his stance in recent days displeased many DISY members. This ranged from references to “marked cards” to uncertainty over whether he would enter the internal process. His written statement after the withdrawal spoke of unity, but it presented DISY as the core of a broader “pan-Cypriot movement”, not as the vehicle of his candidacy.
His participation in the internal process is now considered a given since, according to Pamboridis, this was the assurance the president had requested.
The most difficult point for him is Koulermos. From the accounts of the day, and above all from Pamboridis’s version, the publisher appears to have been at Pindarou to defend the former president’s candidacy and to put pressure on the president. The Nicosia MP also made a point of describing Alithia’s stance as openly in favour of Neophytou.
How Neophytou handles this image will largely determine whether his lead holds until 26 October. The debate over extra-institutional interventions has already provoked reactions within the party.
