Achilleas Demetriades and Andreas Mavroyiannis are the two names preferred by the AKEL leadership, with neither of them having a clear lead. Both are supported by top executives for a number of reasons, but at the same time, there are party officials who have serious reservations, also about both of them. This fluid setting creates conditions of "creative rivalry", as AKEL executives describe it, but which, as they admit, can very easily lead to a climate of introversion and exacerbate mutterings from those who feel that valuable political capital has already been wasted.
Proposal for one or two?
The Central Committee will meet next weekend to prepare a proposal to take to party members for discussion. The question that will be put before the members, however, is whether they will be asked to choose between Dimitriadis or Mavroyiannis, or whether they will be asked to approve one of the two nominated by the Central Committee.
This issue will be discussed at the Politburo meeting scheduled for Wednesday, with most officials in favour of proposing only one candidate, so as not to burden the base with the weight of such a difficult question. On the other hand, however, there are also those who are in favour of discussing both names in the base, in order to reach a majority decision, which would be more representative, but always with the risk that the result would not be so clear. In any case, the debate in the party grassroots groups is expected to start the day after the Central Committee's decision, i.e. from the first ten days of May, and to end in the last week of the month. Then the results of the dialogue will be put before the provincial committees in each city and referred to the Central Committee, which will prepare the recommendation to the Pancyprian Conference, which is set in principle for Sunday, June 5.
For and against
Mavroyiannis and Demetriades have several elements that are compatible with the candidate profile that AKEL wants, with the predominant one being that of a previous honest life.
Both are supporters of the Cyprus solution, but this is where the difficult part begins: Achilleas Demetriades is credited with strong criticism of the President's handling of the issue but has no foothold in other areas, primarily in DIKO, and Andreas Mavroyiannis, as a negotiator, has been the preeminent manager of the Cyprus problem, with no differentiation with the President. Moreover, he openly disagreed with AKEL's criticism of the handling of Crans Montana. The counter argument dictates that as a technocrat and public servant, Andreas Mavroyiannis could not differentiate himself from the official narrative of the government.
From there, Mavroyiannis' experience, the successful handling of Cyprus' EU presidency under the Christofias administration and his knowledge of the international environment count in his favour. The rumours also refer to the possibility of financing the election campaign from donors. On the negative side, he is credited with a long absence abroad and a single-mindedness. Achilleas Demetriades is credited with the fact that his campaign has already started to run and seems to have gained a serious foothold in AKEL, especially among the ardent supporters of the Cyprus solution. He is also being charged with single-mindedness.
The obstacles
AKEL has seven months ahead of it to roll out its election campaign and get the party machines going. However, both candidates will need a lot of effort to lead to electoral victory. Indeed, since neither of the two candidates is partisan, the AKEL leadership will have to find a narrative that will inspire its members and supporters in order to achieve the greatest possible rallying. After the collapse of the attempt at cooperation with DIKO, which would have largely secured a ticket to the second round, AKEL's main objective is now to get over the first-round hurdle without adventures. AKEL officials estimate that as the demographic picture stands at the moment, Achilleas Demetriades has an easier passage to the second round but with a reduced chance of support leading to his election, while Mavroyiannis has a more difficult passage to the second round but with more potential support from other political forces and voters, which could lead him to the presidency.
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