Akel leader Andros Kyprianou’s speech at the party’s convention on Sunday, in which he named Stavros Malas as the party’s nominee in next year’s presidential election, has prompted a barrage of reactions from several government ministers and political parties.
Kyprianou attacked President Nicos Anastasiades – the frontrunner in the upcoming election – on his commitment to a solution to the Cyprus problem, which the party has consistently questioned in recent months after an international conference on Cyprus collapsed in July.
“Once more, [Anastasiades] placed his personal ambitions over the fate of future generations and Cyprus’ interests,” Kyprianou said, although he added that “no one doubts the responsibilities of the Turkish side, or its notorious intransigence”.
He then set his sights on the other major contenders for the presidency – Diko’s Nicolas Papadopoulos, supported by socialist party Edek who have denounced bizonality as an element of a solution to the Cyprus problem, Solidarity, who have denounced federalism altogether, and the Citizens Alliance candidate Yiorgos Lillikas.
“Who is proposing a new strategy, abandoning the federal model?” he asked.
“The party of [Turkish] settlers in the north and the campaigns of Mr Papadopoulos and Mr Lillikas.”
Commenting on the government’s performance on domestic issues, Kyprianou said half the population of Cyprus is essentially living below the poverty line, and cited Eurostat in claiming that Cyprus has sunk to the last spot in social protection spending, topping the list of countries with the fastest-growing gap between rich and poor.
On energy, Akel’s chief said that the government has nothing to show for its five years in power but the third licensing round, and has killed plans for a natural gas liquefaction terminal that could have turned Cyprus into an energy hub.
The all-out assault prompted reactions by various ministers and presidential candidates.
A statement from the labour ministry said the statistics Kyprianou used “could not diverge from reality more”, since the most recent data released by the statistical service suggest that the rate of people living under the poverty line was 20.8 per cent in 2015, down a third from 33.4 per cent in 2012.
Similarly, the energy ministry hit back at Kyprianou’s criticism by denying it had received a comprehensive energy strategy from the previous Akel-backed government.
“Instead, we received a tunnel-visioned obsession with creating a liquefaction terminal, which would have led our country into further economic risks,” the ministry said.
“What is surprising is Akel’s nerve in accusing this government of its own inaction and wrong decisions.”
Responding to Kyprianou, presidential candidate Nicolas Papadopoulos said Akel’s leader “has supported, and continues to support, Anastasiades’ failed strategy in the Cyprus problem”.
“His false criticism cannot hide the fact that he bears much of the responsibility for the financial disaster that struck our country in 2013,” he said.
In a statement, Lillikas complained that Kyprianou had misquoted him, “yet again distorting my remarks”.
“I never said that Akel accepted the continued presence of Turkish troops or guarantees [in a solution to the Cyprus problem],” Lillikas said.
“I only stated that the criticism leveled against Anastasiades regarding the collapse of talks at Crans-Montana is off the mark. If some believe [Anastasiades] should accept these too, that’s a different discussion, but I never attributed such beliefs to Akel,” he added.
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