Anastasiadis declares that he is ready for the struggle for change after the elections
Nikos Anastasiadis says he is ready for the big fight to change a system that has exhausted its limits, after the election result of the Supreme Council, which gave him the anointing of the party's candidate for the 2013 presidential elections with an overwhelming majority.
In a statement after the election result, Mr. Anastasiadis, after thanking the members and executives of the party who contributed to the completion of the process, warmly thanked, as he said, "my rival, my dear friend and MEP of the party Eleni Theocharous ", To the sounds of applause of the attending party members.
"With her participation (Mrs. Theocharous) she strengthened, if you will, the party's choices. This is very important because the era of unanimous decisions has passed irrevocably because having the courage and boldness, regardless of how some people think it, to enter a process is exactly one of the characteristics of democracy that in DISY is the alpha and omega ", he added.
"Thank you Eleni for your participation, congratulations for the fact that you contributed to ensure the impeccable democratic processes and together I am sure we will continue in the great struggle that follows and I have no doubt that together with the rest of the political forces and the wider society "We will give the citizens what our country is looking for, what the people want, the other choice or the change if you want, the change of a system that has exhausted its limits, as I stressed in the morning", he concluded.
DISY has chosen a candidate for the presidency, says Theocharous
DISY has chosen its candidate for the presidential elections, said the party's MEP Eleni Theocharous, adding that he fully respects the result.
In a statement after the announcement of the election results of the Supreme Council, Ms. Theocharous also said that she will seek a meeting on Monday with the President and now the party's candidate for the presidential elections, Nikos Anastasiadis.
"The result was obtained through absolutely democratic procedures," Ms. Theocharous said in a brief statement, congratulating those who worked to complete the process.
"I respect it completely, DISY has chosen its candidate for the presidential elections, I wish him a very big victory. "I will seek to meet and talk on Monday," he concluded.
Her candidacy goes beyond the party framework, says E. Theocharous
The reasons that she considers that her own candidacy can be a proposal that exceeds the narrow party limits, DISY MEP Eleni Theocharous presented from the podium of the Supreme Council, adding that her own candidacy "does not lead the Alarm to isolation".
Ms. Theocharous's speech at one point provoked the reaction of the delegates who strongly disapproved of her, something that provoked the intervention of the President of the party and rival of Nikos Anastasiadis, who intervened in order to allow Ms. Theocharous to continue her speech. The MEP assured that she would respect the election result with "religious reverence".
"I am here in front of you and I claim the anointing of the candidate of the party for the next presidential elections, presenting another policy on the national issue", said Ms. Theocharous in her speech, adding that "the party needs it to have a credible proposal power to win the elections ".
According to Ms. Theocharous, "today Cyprus is facing the most threatening crisis for our state and for the survival of our people." He added that during the years of the government of Dimitris Christofias our economy suffered an unprecedented collapse and that the effects of the explosion in Marie are "catastrophic".
"Not only for the economy, but mainly for the mindset, faith, trust and appreciation of the citizens in the state structure and governance of the country, in the self-esteem of the people, in the social cohesion and in the credibility of the Republic of Cyprus", he continued.
Focusing most of her speech on the Cyprus issue, Ms. Theocharous said that "we risk the burial of the Cypriot dream and the destruction of the creative optimism of the Cypriot Hellenism."
"Citizens are disappointed that the situation is irreversible. "Without any strategy and no structured tactics, plagued by misery, by the fennel of the bi-zonal separation of Cyprus and the ever-changing but essentially unchanging Annan plan," he said, adding that this behavior is being capitalized on by Turkey and works for the benefit of occupying forces and the occupying regime.
As he said, "we are retreating with flexibility unprecedented in the timeless data of the talks. "Before they ask us for something, we have already delivered it."
"Unfortunately, this non-politics in its basic conception has been supported over time by the leaderships of all or almost all parties," he said, noting that "this non-politics that lacks vision, optimism, commitment to goals, perseverance, strategy, this the non-politics that does not arouse the people, that does not inspire any Greek and does not convince any foreigner, unfortunately we once supported it ".
Ms. Theocharous referred to the need to claim the implementation of human rights without discounts and exceptions for all Cypriots, adding that "this goal is so simple and so understandable and does not allow anyone to raise any objection."
"We aim to implement the European legal system and European political culture in Cyprus. We seek the mobilization of Europeans to defend Cyprus, the freedoms and the rights of its citizens. "It's enough to convince us that we are also fighting for it," he said.
Describing the bi-zonal bi-communal federation as an "ineffective scheme", Ms. Theocharous wondered if "is it a coincidence that it was never possible to solve the problem with the prospect of a viable solution in this context?" Even with the extreme retreats of Dimitris Christofias? "
"For this reason, we reject all the concessions that have been made by us over time and have turned this solution outline into a gallows," he continued.
He called for a strategy to be drawn up "within an EU that knows the problem well and in detail".
He also wondered why Cyprus joined the EU. "To dismantle the Republic of Cyprus and legitimize the perpetrators of the invasion or to demand a democratic solution that will free us from the state and geostrategic hostage of Turkey?" he said.
As he said, "since 1977, 35 years have passed since the Makarios-Denktash agreements. "Should the painful compromise finally be possible, should we finally succumb to all Turkish demands?" Mrs. Theocharous asked and added: "We must stop self-flagellation."
He also spoke about the need to create a welfare state, for a human-centered Greek education, adding that the discovery of gas fields "is incomprehensibly a lever of an upgraded policy for a proper solution to the Cyprus problem."
"So I submit my candidacy and ask for your support, as Greek patriots, who believe in our homeland and are anxious for the future of our children," he said.
"I am submitting a candidacy that can and must break the narrow party boundaries, I am submitting a proposal, supported by thousands of citizens, of all party and ideological backgrounds", he said and continued: "Citizens who have appreciated my consistency and commitment to goals, my concern for every citizen, my affection for the weak and the humble ".
Noting that she serves Cyprus as a DISY MEP and that she is proud of that, Ms. Theocharous added that "at this time we must elect the President of all Cypriots".
"Why Cyprus does not need and can not stand governments of temporary alliances, governments of pre-election transactions. "Cyprus needs an inspired leadership that emanates from the people and will be accountable to the people."
Addressing the members of the Supreme Court, Mr. Theocharous said that he claims their support "by submitting a proposal of victory, a program of principles and values adorned by the unwavering commitment to the strategy for the liberation of Cyprus, I submit a proposal of a common candidate, who eagerly the people are looking for a candidacy that will not exclude anyone and will not lead the Alarm to entrenchment and isolation ".
However, the spirits were sharpened in the report of Ms. Theocharous that her candidacy "will not lead to a decision of the Supreme, which while taken democratically and with an overwhelming majority, is in complete contradiction with the will of the party base and society as a whole ».
On hearing this report, many of the members of the Council began to disapprove, with the result that the President of the party had to intervene. "Please, any speaker has the right (and) I do not think that anyone is offended," said Mr. Anastasiadis.
For her part, Ms Theocharous said she had "absolute confidence in the political and democratic criteria" of the Supreme Council.
However, Ms. Theocharous insisted that she could represent DISY "successfully". "Because the majority of victory in the presidential election will be formed by all citizens. From the active citizens, the outcasts, the frustrated ones, even from those who refused to go to the polls because they had no alternative. "Everyone is needed, and the leftists who understand that the AKEL government was unfortunate and want a new breath of new political discourse, hope and consistency and responsibility", he concluded.
PRESS RELEASE - DIKO - ANASTASIADIS CANDIDATE
"In a sincere and honest effort of national reconciliation and political cooperation for the way out of the crisis and the recovery of the credibility of the party system, DI.KO. took the initiative three months ago to invite all leaderships and parties to a dialogue that would allow them to turn the period leading up to the February 2013 Presidential elections into a fruitful period of seeking and planning an integrated strategy for the future of Cyprus.
The purpose of this proposal is:
α. put aside partisan rivalries, personal ambitions and useless conflicts,
β. to highlight the real problems and undo the false dilemmas,
γ. to seek the real convergences and the genuine stakes that concern the present and the future of our homeland and our people,
so that when he is now in front of the ballot box of the Presidential elections he can make his choices having full knowledge, awareness and awareness of the alternative solutions and its consequences, both in terms of the satisfaction of our national rights and in terms of return the country to a path of growth and prosperity.
Moving in this direction, DIKO sought and had a series of first exploratory contacts with all the party forces and their leaderships.
In the context of these contacts, he also called on all parties to postpone their final decisions, in order to give time to the quests that might lead to a mutually acceptable candidacy, whose personality traits are compatible. with the priorities of a joint governance program.
The ratification of the candidacy of Mr. Nikos Anastasiadis by the political council of DISY is certainly an indisputable right but also the responsibility of his party.
However, he cannot but point out that with this unilateral decision, DISY complicates the effort of national reconciliation and programmatic convergences without fulfilled and predetermined conditions.
Nevertheless, we want to hope that, even so, both Mr. Anastasiadis and his party will not want to intensify the cross-party participation in the dialogue that we must all hold in front of the Cypriot people.
Seeking cooperation with all political forces, it is self-evident that DI.KO. At the same time, it will seek reconciliation between the most ideologically related forces with which it is in constant dialogue, either individually or through joint meetings.
We must emphasize once again that the aim of the initiatives and proposals of DIKO is not to record the correlations between the Right, Center and Left, but to overcome these divisions through the formation of political and social alliances of the widest possible spectrum, the greater consensus and the widest possible acceptance, so that strong and credible coalitions of power emerge through the desired programmatic convergences, which will guarantee, with their coherence and strategic consistency, the immediate implementation of an effective national governance plan. "
Source: Cyprus News Agency / SIGMA