The President of DIKO, Nikolas Papadopoulos, was invited to comment on the election of Nikos Christodoulidis to the supreme office of the President of the Republic.
Mr. Papadopoulos explained the reasons for Mr. Christodoulidis's victory, stating that they will support him in order to fulfill his pre-election program.
He initially stated that the victory was primarily due to Nikos Christodoulidis. "It was a different nomination and it's one of the reasons he won. His personality, his charisma, his political proposals and that society wanted something different."
He added that "we have a historic victory. Something like this has never happened before in the political history of Cyprus. An independent candidate won without the support of the two major parties."
He pointed out that DIKO brought to the table a crucial electoral percentage that gave Nikos Christodoulidis the ticket for the second round of the elections and we helped him on the second Sunday as well. "Nikos Christodoulidis won because a significant number of DISY voters chose him in both votes."
Mr. Papadopoulos said that DIKO in the second round of the elections rallied to 85%. "It is a historically high rally and that is due to the candidate and his proposals. The party apparatus believed that we had potential and that we could contribute to the formulation of policies."
He underlined that Nikos Christodoulidis has a very good mood for cooperation with the other forces in the Parliament. "In history, most Presidents did not have a majority in Parliament. There is a way for the executive branch to function without the President having a majority."
Continuing, he said that "we forget what happened in the election campaign. A new day has begun. We have a duty towards the citizens who honored Nikos Christodoulidis and those who voted for other candidates".
He added that this election was different because Nikos Christodoulidis brought a new ethos and a new approach. "He won the election without accusing anyone. Society wanted something different and found a different candidate in him."
He congratulated Andreas Mavroyiannis, noting that he ran an honest campaign and had a very good performance in the two rounds of the Presidential elections."
Speaking about the composition of the Cabinet, he mentioned that it is something that concerns only Nikos Christodoulidis. "He has declared that the Cabinet will consist of new persons and they will come from all political areas. We have a role to play in the Parliament and we will support this Government. We want it to succeed so that the country can move forward."
He emphasized that there is hard work ahead of DIKO. "We need to be united to tackle the problems and we have important proposals that need to be implemented."
He was then asked to comment on DISY's decision to vote according to conscience, while there was also an exhortation to vote in favor of Andreas Mavroyiannis, stressing that they had not considered that the election of Nikos Christodoulidis was easy. "We were restrained and the SIGMA polls did not show that Mr. Christodoulidis will walk."
Finally, he said that "we were convinced that Nikos Christodoulidis was a very good candidate, he had a positive image in society and we believed in his pre-election program. For these reasons he has won."