Fidias Panayiotou has revealed the behind-the-scenes developments that preceded Mike Spanos' participation in the National Council, responding to reactions that emerged on social media.
Speaking in a party video posted on YouTube, the leader of Direct Democracy described how he learned of the developments while in Brazil.
"I was in Brazil, I went to sleep at two in the morning and when I woke up at nine, I saw eight missed calls from the President. When I got in touch, I learned that everything had been arranged by Diana and Spanos. The issue that arose was that we had sent Spanos to the National Council and there was a question as to whether he was a member of the party," he said.
For her part, Direct Democracy vice-president Diana Constantinidou explained that a letter had been sent on Tuesday informing the authorities that the party would be represented in the National Council by Mike Spanos.
However, on Friday a procedural issue emerged, as representatives participating in the National Council must be registered members of the party they represent.
As she clarified, Mike Spanos is a registered member of Direct Democracy, and the only issue that needed to be resolved was clarification of that fact.
Panayiotou also said that every user of the application's platform used by the party is automatically considered a member of Direct Democracy.
At the same time, he left open the possibility that, in the future, citizens could be asked through the same application to express their views on similar matters. He noted, however, that the party remains in its early stages and needs time to develop the way it operates.
Elsewhere in the discussion, he revealed that, as part of UN Secretary-General António Guterres' visit to Cyprus, he is scheduled to meet with him.
