They are left with the will for cooperation and regret for the shipwreck.
The effort of the last period between AKEL and DIKO to reach a common candidate for the 2023 presidential election has come to an end and now the two parties are asked to start the effort from the beginning and separately.
DIKO put the end of the matter late Tuesday night. With a simple statement, DIKO confirmed what had been looming for days. That is, the wreckage in the discussion on cooperation. The reports that the name of the chosen one would eventually be the "thorn" in the two parties' efforts have been confirmed.
The statements of the leaders of the two parties over the weekend proved to be prophetic. Stefanos Stefanou and Nicolas Papadopoulos essentially confirmed that there are options for their parties even in case of a breakdown in the talks between them.
The announcement that ended it
"The Executive Bureau regrets[/B] that, against the wishes of the Democratic Party, the discussion with AKEL on cooperation in the presidential elections has not reached the desired result," read the statement issued after the Executive Bureau meeting in which the position on "divorce before marriage" was formulated.
According to the briefing, the Executive Bureau was informed in detail, by Nicolas Papadopoulos, both about the consultations with the leaders of other parliamentary parties, as well as about the intra-party dialogue of the last weeks in the Local and Provincial Committees of the Democratic Party, throughout the free Cyprus.
The members of the Executive Bureau of the Democratic Party thoroughly discussed and analysed all the facts as they are today, about 10 months before the Presidential Elections and exchanged views on the goals and choices of the Party.
The next day
Following the decision, the DIKO Executive Bureau authorized President Nicolas Papadopoulos and the Party Secretariat to continue consultations with other parties and independent candidates, to explore the possibility of partnerships and will reassess the whole situation after Easter.
In DIKO it is considered certain that they will put all options on the table, such as an independent candidacy with Nicolas Papadopoulos, or supporting another candidate. The candidacy of former deputy party president George Kolokasidis cannot be ignored, but an important piece of the puzzle is certainly the looming candidacy of Nikos Christodoulides, who seems to have a foothold among the DIKOites.
On the other hand, AKEL's options are essentially limited to the three names it put on the table in the dialogue with DIKO, namely Achilleas Demetriades, Erato Kozakos Markoullis and Tasos Christofides. Without ruling out other names, which may emerge in the process, but de facto the expansion of options cannot be rapid.
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