What was, and still is, the priority for Disy right now? Certainly not who will be the party's presidential candidate, but who will safeguard its unity after the recovery it achieved with that encouraging 27% in the parliamentary elections. Who could do that? Under the circumstances, only party leader Annita Demetriou. Averof Neophytou looked ready to tear the party apart if he was not chosen as its candidate, Christodoulides is lying in wait to win over even more Disy voters through the infighting, and Pamborides, although the best qualified of them all, does not appear at this moment to have the base to win the internal election. In short, for several days now the view had been spreading through the corridors of Pindarou that if Annita also entered this madhouse, she would become part of the problem. So some people advised her to think differently. Not out of fear of losing to Averof. She would probably have beaten him, even narrowly, judging by the polls so far, one of which showed her winning by 60% to 38%. But in that case, what would Averof have done? For a month now he has been telling party officials "a thousand times Christodoulides rather than Annita", so had he lost, he would certainly have tried to undermine her. In other words, as Neophytou has shown so far, if he does not get his way he will not hesitate to split the party. As he also tells people in his inner circle and journalists, "I have more years behind me than ahead of me, so if anyone needs to think about their future, it is Annita." In short, what matters today, and what Annita is called upon to protect, is unity, so that the party can fight the presidential battle with either Averof or Pamborides. Other names are already being floated as candidates, namely former ministers Ionas Nicolaou and Haris Georgiades.
Maccabi in Limassol
Moving Maccabi Tel Aviv's EuroLeague games to Limassol certainly has its pros and cons. Among the cons are clearly the security issues. Five thousand Israelis wandering around Limassol or entering a stadium are a target, even for terrorists, unless there are tight security measures. At the same time, some Limassol clubs are protesting because they are losing their home ground. There are, of course, advantages too. Five thousand Israelis amount to sports tourism. Second, they put Cyprus on the map of European basketball, as all the big teams will pass through Limassol. Third, Turkish teams will also play in Limassol, which indirectly but clearly gives our country certain political advantages when it comes to who recognises whom.
A first for the University of Cyprus
The election of academic Marina Neophytou as rector of the University of Cyprus is very significant. She is the first woman to hold the post, and she also won the trust of the majority of academics, and not only at the University of Cyprus. She won over the Turkish Cypriot academic community too, which rushed as one to congratulate her.
Charalambidou, Odysseas and the media
Charalambidou and Odysseas have set out to pass legislation on asset declarations for publishers and journalists. Between us, good for them. If they also avoided the populist one-liners, they might be more convincing that they care about the health of the media rather than about scoring points. Unfortunately, that was clear from the very start. Ms Irene took the floor and told us that "we watched extra-institutional media figures lead negotiations for the benefit of political figures, with the aim of securing power. We cannot pretend that nothing is happening. When people who control media outlets and people who seek or hold the highest offices make deals outside the institutions, we are not talking about a private matter." We are sure, however, that had the announcement been delayed by a couple of days and had they seen what happened on Disy's fifth floor when Averof brought publisher Frixos Koulermos upstairs, they would have made no statement at all and kept their mouths firmly shut.
Pamborides: one plus, one minus
George Pamborides is credited with one plus and one minus for the past week. On the plus side, he admitted the obvious: that Annita Demetriou was subjected to coordinated undermining, through gossip and whispers, by Averof's team. We would urge him, of course, to be careful, because he will start receiving the same treatment himself until he is forced to withdraw his candidacy. The same was done to the late Mitsopoulos and to Haris Georgiades when they ran for the Disy leadership, and both ended up withdrawing. In both cases, Nicos Anastasiades lent Foulis a helping hand. On the minus side was Pamborides' participation in the meeting on Disy's fifth floor in the presence of an extra-institutional figure. A week earlier, prompted by a dinner in June, he had been telling us about unacceptable extra-institutional interventions. Last Thursday, he himself was present at a meeting with an extra-institutional figure who dealt the cards exactly as Averof wanted. This column has great respect for Frixos Koulermos, but although he is a veteran warrior of Disy, he holds no office and has no legitimate role. The meeting did not take place over a relaxed glass of wine in some tavern, but in the office of the leader of the Democratic Rally. What partly saves Pamborides here is his sense of humour, as he remarked that "Averof went to the meeting with his guardian."
The publisher's trump card
What new did the presence of Averof's very close friend and Alithia publisher Frixos Koulermos on Disy's top floor bring to the table in Averof's favour? An additional argument for his candidacy. Despite his well-known and correct positions on the Cyprus problem, Mr Frixos has good political as well as family ties with Elam leader Christos Christou, people in Averof Neophytou's team tell us. Koulermos, Averof's people say, could persuade Christou to run as a candidate in 2028, so that Nikos Christodoulides does not take votes from Elam. All this, as Averof's team always tells us without going into detail, was confirmed at a secret meeting between Koulermos, Averof and Christou in Episkopeio. If all this is true, of course, and if all the Elam MPs who back Christodoulides agree to go along, then Averof, if elected president, will be obliged to govern in coalition with Elam. Granted, that is a lot of ifs, but for better or worse, this is how politicians make decisions in Cyprus. And I won't even start on the promises Irene Charalambidou, Odysseas Michaelides and Fidias Panayiotou supposedly made to Averof, always according to serious sources in Averof's team. If all that is true, Averof wins in the first round.
Do journalists write under pseudonyms?
Some of Foulis' little trolls, who sprang up like mushrooms after the first September rains, have taken to denouncing the fact that some people at Politis write under pseudonyms. In the long tradition of the Cypriot press, it was far from rare for well-known writers to publish some pieces under a pseudonym. Society was always small, and a pseudonym gave a certain freedom of expression. In the early 1930s, Antonios Triantafyllides, grandfather of Chris Triantafyllides, contributed chronicles to the newspaper Salpinx and was a close contributor to Eleftheria, where he published many pieces, mostly chronicles. He used various pseudonyms, sometimes even signing his articles with a woman's name, Maria i Synklitiki or Mam'zelle Nitouche, complete with a photograph of "her" in circulation. Pharmakides wrote under a pseudonym in Alithia, and Tassos Papadopoulos signed himself Dimokritos when he published Keryx. Today in Cypriot newspapers we see pseudonyms such as PIN, Eosforos, Ioulia Palaiologou, Dourios Ippos, Pistolero, Thoukis, Onasagoras and Kapsalis. These columns, most of which are successful and widely read, are best judged by their content rather than by whether or not they are written under a pseudonym. Pseudonymous columns in serious media can, after all, be taken to court if they publish something false or inaccurate. Who do paid trolls with fake accounts answer to? They expose, of course, whoever funds them, and in recent weeks he has shown just how low he is prepared to go.
Akel's list
Akel continues its search for a presidential candidate, slowly drawing up a list that it will send to its local committees. Although Andreas Mavroyiannis's name remains at the top of the list, there are large groups that want a younger candidate. In Paphos in particular, a strong group is promoting the candidacy of economist Tasos Yiasemides, while in Nicosia there are quite a few supporters of a regrouping of the Patriotic Forces who insist that Akel will only return to the presidency with Nikolas Papadopoulos as its candidate.
