I will vote for the one I consider most suitable, said today the Minister of the Interior, Nikos Nouris, who, when asked about it, did not want to say who he will support in the second round of the presidential elections, although he has already made up his mind.
Asked, in his statements after the session of the Council of Ministers, if he will claim the presidency of DISY, Mr. Nouris replied: "Each thing in its own time. At the moment we have a second round of presidential elections, it is an extremely important electoral process for which, regardless of the fact that our candidate is not in the second round of the elections, we are obliged institutionally and even more so as members of the Government to defend this process, to invite the world to participate in this process and I assure you that there is plenty of time for the rest".
Asked about yesterday's decision by the DISY General Assembly in view of the second round of the presidential elections and responding to a journalist's comment about division in DISY, Mr. Nouris said that "there is no division in DISY".
He stated that the opinions of "competitors" were exposed transparently and a decision has been taken with absolute respect. He stated that DISY is a pluralist party in which "we judge that its supporters and especially the 110 thousand who supported the candidacy of our President in the last elections have every possibility on a personal level to decide on the basis of what the Politburo decided, avoiding in this way we have additional other problems with positioning in favor of one or the other candidate".
He added that the two candidates "for possibly different reasons, but with documentation, it was decided that they do not meet the criteria for the Politburo to receive our own organized party support".
Noting that senior party officials are in favor of one or the other candidate, Mr. Nouris said that what he addressed yesterday especially to the front-line officials was that they should avoid public positions "not because we forbid anyone to speak – it is not up to DISY to forbid anyone from posting. But if we want to leave and send the message to our voters and to the people who support DISY that they should soberly weigh what we presented yesterday as arguments and do behind the screen what they want with their free will, they should not there is their own influence from additional other placements,” he stated.
He added that "this is the position of the PG, at least as far as I'm concerned, this is exactly the position I adopt and advocate and I supported it with my own position in the PG".
To a journalist's remark that with this decision the PG is shifting the burden of responsibility to DISY voters, Mr. Nouris replied: "Not at all. Conscientious voting is clearly not an easy decision for an organized party." He noted at the same time that DISY has documented its position that neither one of the candidates nor the other, for completely different reasons, meets the criteria that the PG would like to give him undivided support.
"Therefore, since the organized body called a party cannot be placed in favor of one or the other because democracy dictates and we are a party that urges people to go to the polls, we tell the friends and supporters of DISY that they should weigh everyone on a personal level what has been heard and put their position", he said.
Asked to say if there was a question about the leadership of the party, he said that "in the clearest way, the President (of DISY) has already set the mark that we have institutional procedures and in addition to the election of the President of the party, there will be at the end of the term and announcement of the remaining positions of the top leadership. Therefore, the 52 thousand members of the party will express themselves in the way they want and through their vote they will send the message you are asking me about".
Source: KYPE