We may still be more than a year and a half away from the 2028 presidential election, but the discussion has been underway for some time now, as we approach the announcement of the candidates’ names by the political parties.
In the studio of the “Alpha Kalimera” show were DISY MP Nikos Georgiou, AKEL MP Andreas Pasiourtides, and ELAM MP Evgenios Hamboullas.
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Responding to Katerina Agapitou’s comment that Andreas Pasiourtides has said nothing regarding AKEL’s choice for the presidential race, Eugenios Hamboullas claimed that he had already addressed this.
“He told me to see who the others will discard. He told me to see who will derail DISY’s process, and maybe we can pick him up—they’re waiting for a transfer, that’s what he told me; I don’t know if he was joking, but he did say it to me.”
“DISY and AKEL share common ground on major issues, such as the Cyprus problem; many say that if these two don’t cooperate, the Cyprus problem won’t be solved,” he continued.
When asked what ELAM will do regarding the presidential election, he stated that they will hold internal party elections and a constitutional convention in January and will make a decision then.
“If Mr. Christou, who is currently a successful leader in ELAM, decides to run, we will support him with all our might. But we’ll wait. And he himself is waiting for the internal party election process to conclude first before taking a position.”
When asked to comment on the claim that ELAM is close to the government, he responds that the party is close to the people.
“Where the government is right, we applaud it. We point out its mistakes.”
When asked what criteria they will use to decide who the candidate will be if Mr. Christou does not run, or whether they will openly side with Nikos Christodoulides, he states:
“For ELAM to stand by anyone, there must be common ground and a platform. As we speak, for me, the priority is to clarify the situation and then take a position later.”
“I currently favor ELAM running independently, but we’ll see how the situation develops,” he adds.
When asked to respond to those who say that ELAM stands with Nikos Christodoulides, but only behind the scenes and not openly, he states that some people apparently cannot tolerate the soundness of their political decisions.
“These decisions are focused on—and have as their sole criterion—the proper functioning of the state, wherever the Christodoulides government is doing the right thing. I repeat: We support it. And we would do the same with any government. Not Nikos Christodoulides’ government. Our role is not to attack those in power from morning till night. Our role is to be positive and to help ensure that the right decisions are made and implemented, as is currently the case the Ministry of the Interior is working on housing issues; we heard the announcements the day before yesterday, and we applaud them. At the same time, however, within the same Ministry, when other types of decisions were made—regarding ID cards—we are very strict in our criticism.”
“So, if some people expect ELAM to start a new argument every day—to justify the claim that we oppose everything—no, we oppose what is wrong, not everything,” he concludes.
When asked to comment on Andreas Mavroyiannis’s statements and his intention to run as a candidate—whether or not in alliance with AKEL—and whether this puts AKEL in a box, he responds in the negative. “Mr. Mavrogiannis is expressing his own opinion at this particular moment,” he states.
“Of course, there is no agreement. AKEL has procedures, which haven’t even really begun yet—I mean at the level of the collective bodies. Obviously, a year before the elections—which we consider a milestone—there will be an AKEL candidate in March, but AKEL will not be bound by anyone’s wishes. Nor will it be bound by potential targeted polls that seek to impose candidates on it.”
“Obviously, the exchange of officials does not concern AKEL; we’ve seen the Pindaros-ELAM trajectory many times,” he replied to Hamboulla’s comment.
“It’s certainly not AKEL that’s moving to the right. Synagermos has three former officials in ELAM’s parliamentary group. That’s their right.”
Mr. Hamboullas took up the gauntlet and raised questions about the “Ministry of Health–Ezekias Papaioannou affair” five years ago. Mr. Pasiourtidis replied that no such issue ever existed.
“ELAM served as a useful crutch for the government whenever needed,” Mr. Pasiourtides continued.
“It even boasted that it blocked AKEL’s path on the second Sunday. In fact, Mr. Hamboullas even said in my presence that this has always been the goal: to block AKEL’s path. So, since he supported Christodoulides on the second Sunday, he got what he was owed in return. I don’t recall any serious criticism of the Christodoulides government from ELAM. Now, if they take it to the next level—by coming out to support Mr. Christodoulides from the very beginning—then the fairy tale of anti-establishment politics comes to an end.”
“The Democratic Alarm has consistently contested the presidential elections with its own candidate,” states MP Nikos Georgiou. “What happened in 2023 within the Democratic Alarm was something that was politically unorthodox and politically dishonest,” he said, commenting on the 2023 presidential election.
“I believe that the Democratic Alarm, with its unifying forces, its political platform, and its leadership, will forge unity so that in the upcoming presidential election, the Democratic Alarm will field a single candidate, and that candidate will be elected PresidentPresident of the Republic.”
