The opinion of AKEL members around the names of Achilleas Demetriades and Andreas Mavroyiannis will very largely determine the final proposal that the party leadership will formulate for the presidential elections, which will be ratified in the first week of June by the extraordinary congress.
Two names now appear to be preferred by the leadership and one of them will be the party's chosen one, unless there is any reversal in the process, which may create conditions for a third potential candidate's name to be reintroduced.
The name of Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis has recently come back on the AKEL table as a solution that can serve as a bridge of cooperation with DIKO, which AKEL's leadership is so keen on, even in the second round. For this to happen, however, the qualification in the second round of the candidate that AKEL will support is essential. Andreas Mavroyiannis meets some of the basic requirements set by AKEL (experience, honesty, name recognition, etc.), although he has an inherent weakness: He was the President's right-hand man in the management of the Cyprus problem from 2014 until today, which puts him at odds with AKEL's narrative of the deadlocks to which the prospect of a solution has led. Even if Andreas Mavroyiannis had no party status but only functioned as a technocrat and experienced diplomat and knowledgeable about the Cyprus problem, the cooperation with President Anastasiades essentially "cancels" the opposition rhetoric of the Left Party, which will be convenient for the candidate of the ruling party, Averof Neophytou, as well as for Nikos Christodoulides. In the past, A.Mavroyiannis may have indirectly criticized the manipulations, turning more against N.Christodoulides, with whom he does not have the best relations, but this does not negate the big picture, his identification with President Anastasiades regarding the manipulations especially during the controversial period of Crans-Montana.
AKEL officials believe that the solution of Achilleas Demetriades frees the party from this dilemma, but they understand that it can hardly function as a bridge of cooperation with DIKO in the second round, in a showdown with either Averof Neophytou or, even more so, with Nikos Christodoulides. The name of economist Stelios Plati remains on the table but more as a reserve, since a number of factors, most notably his lack of experience and low visibility, put him out of the running.
Immediately after Easter, Stefanos Stefanou will have contacts with the other opposition parties to re-explore the possibility of cooperation with Dimitriadis and Mavroyiannis as possible candidates to return to the leadership of the party, which will be addressed to the members. From the outcome of the discussion in the party groups, the Central Committee, which is AKEL's supreme guiding body, will come up with a proposal to submit to the conference, which will make a final decision on the candidate with whom AKEL will fight the 2023 battle. AKEL's conference was scheduled for 15 May but was moved to the first week of June due to the disruption to the timetable caused by the breakdown in the dialogue with DIKO.
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