Cyprus politics turns to 2028 as battle for the Right intensifies

Politics akelannita demetrioudisyNikos ChristodoulidespoliticsTop News Cyprus politics turns to 2028 as battle for the Right intensifies Xristodulides Annita Averof Stefanos 1024x719 Relevant News Cyprus politics turns to 2028 as battle for the Right intensifies 9 August 2026 Cyprus to stay hot and mainly clear, isolated showers possible from Tuesday 9 August 2026 Two e-scooter riders crash into sea rocks in Paphos 8 August 2026 Frixos Dalitis 9 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Before a battle, generals prepare their troops, draw up their plans and gather their equipment. Before the marathon of a football season, club executives and coaches make transfers and make sure their players are properly prepared. Cyprus’s political landscape could increasingly be compared to a battlefield or a football championship, albeit one with its own rules. Whatever the analogy, political battles – or, more precisely, electoral battles – have always required careful preparation and strategy to be won. Today, however, that battle appears almost permanent, and Cyprus politics is already moving into presidential election mode, even though, so far, only George Pamboridis has openly shown an interest in becoming a presidential candidate. Andreas Mavroyiannis has also said he would be available if he secured party backing. What is certain is that the political headquarters are already at work. The main developments are taking place on the Right, where a continuing struggle for dominance between personalities and competing political approaches is unfolding at several levels across the broader ideological space. Nikos Christodoulides, Annita Demetriou and Averof Neophytou are, for now, the main players, with the first moves on the chessboard already underway. Between the three, and at different levels and stages, a contest for supremacy is taking shape. First comes the internal battle within the Democratic Rally (DISY) over who will secure the party’s presidential nomination. Then comes the wider contest for victory in the presidential election itself. For the Right, the key – or perhaps the most important stage of the contest – will be the first round of the presidential election. Who will make it through to the second-round showdown? Could Cyprus see a Christodoulides-Demetriou or Christodoulides-Neophytou run-off? Given the fluidity of the political landscape and the still-unknown intentions of several other political players, all scenarios remain open. At the same time, polling carried out so far appears to show momentum around the name of Andreas Mavroyiannis, although it remains unclear whether he will ultimately stand in the presidential election. This may partly be explained by the fact that a Mavroyiannis candidacy backed by AKEL appears to be gaining ground as a scenario in the public mind. Combined with the fragmented and finely balanced picture on the Right, this creates, on the one hand, favourable conditions for the former negotiator to run again and, on the other, growing pressure on the AKEL leadership over its eventual choice for the presidential election. Against this backdrop, the room for manoeuvre available to AKEL’s leadership is becoming even narrower. Mavroyiannis himself recently made clear that he would be interested in running for president if he had AKEL’s support. The previous presidential election was a valuable experience for him and laid the groundwork for another campaign, while AKEL already has before it the option of a candidate with whom it performed well in the 2023 presidential election. He is familiar to the party’s voters and to society more broadly, meaning AKEL would not have to go through the process of introducing him to the electorate. He also appears to have a degree of electoral momentum. The battle over appointments The government reshuffle and appointments to the boards of semi-governmental organisations dominated the political agenda in recent days. At the same time, DISY is continuing appointments to its Government Work Monitoring Council, effectively the party’s “shadow cabinet”. Within this broader series of moves – and the struggle for influence on the Right – an increasingly open contest between Nikos Christodoulides and Annita Demetriou is also taking shape. Who will get whom? The discussion surrounding the appointment of the new Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Tina Pavlou, is indicative. Pavlou is said to have supported Nikos Christodoulides’s candidacy in 2023. At the same time, however, she developed a good relationship with DISY president Annita Demetriou, which led to her standing as one of the party’s appointed candidates in the Nicosia district in the recent parliamentary election. She was subsequently appointed by DISY to the Government Work Monitoring Council. She never became a member of DISY, however, and for that reason did not participate in the party’s Political Bureau in her capacity as a portfolio holder on the council. The relationship that had developed with Pavlou, a recognisable public figure because of her work with Agia Skepi, was regarded as an asset for DISY. Some may even have viewed her as a political “transfer” that the party had managed to secure from Christodoulides. That helps explain the reaction to her appointment. The circumstances surrounding Christos Angelides were different. Even so, the mere leaking of his name as a possible ministerial appointment was enough to fuel talk that Christodoulides was attempting to recruit figures from within DISY to his Cabinet. The same was true earlier in the cases of Elena Kousiou and Polis Kourousidis. Regardless of what ultimately happened, and whether or not Christodoulides actually approached them about government appointments, media reports mentioning their names were enough to generate political noise. Both were eventually appointed by DISY, Kousiou as deputy party spokesperson and Kourousidis as head of the Interior portfolio. The atmosphere surrounding those two names, as well as the case of Nikos Tornaritis, coincided with the government’s decision to submit legislation to parliament as a matter of urgency extending the term of Deputy Minister for European Affairs Marilena Raouna. The bill was rejected, with DISY voting against it. Although DISY never officially said so, its stance was interpreted as a message to Christodoulides about any subsequent moves or intentions concerning his reshuffle. DISY, meanwhile, wants to broaden its appointments beyond candidates who stood in the parliamentary elections but failed to secure a seat. Bringing in people who were left outside parliament – and addressing the disappointment that can follow a lost electoral battle – serves several purposes: maintaining bridges with them, strengthening ties by giving them a role in policymaking and, at the same time, reducing the risk of political “leakage” or even “desertion” to rival camps. In this case, there is another objective as well: strengthening or consolidating Annita Demetriou’s position within the party. One thing applies both to Christodoulides’s Cabinet reshuffle and ministerial appointments and to Demetriou’s appointments to the Government Work Monitoring Council: unsuccessful parliamentary candidates have only recently fought an election campaign. They therefore know how elections are fought, and each has their own personal organisational network capable of mobilising votes. Two battles are now taking place within DISY: The internal battle, which at one level concerns the party’s nomination for president and, at another, the battle for survival within the party leadership. The presidential election itself and the battle for dominance across the broader Right, assuming the first battle is won. It was also within this context that DISY sought to highlight the appointment of lawyer Ira Emilianidou, wife of prominent lawyer Achilleas Emilianides. Ira Emilianidou was given responsibility for the Migration portfolio on the Government Work Monitoring Council and made her first public intervention on the issue last week. She is not a party member and did not stand in the parliamentary election. She comes from the broader Right, belongs to Nicosia’s urban political milieu and could be described as an addition to Annita Demetriou’s camp. The ‘war’ over political identity Another battle is also underway – one over ideological and political identity. At a time when politicians and parties are criticised for lacking a clear political identity and ideological direction, there is an increasingly urgent effort to define political positions and establish a recognisable profile ahead of the presidential election. Nikos Christodoulides has spent months trying to define the political identity of his government, something he sought to emphasise through the recent reshuffle. “You are members of a government with a clear centre-right political orientation, which is nevertheless committed to serving all Cypriot citizens, regardless of ideological background, party preference or social origin,” he told ministers during the swearing-in ceremony for the new Cabinet last Thursday. A centre-right government guided by social liberalism. “We know what we promised, what we want and how to achieve it. Our guide is the Governance Programme, based on the ideology of social liberalism, where the state serves the principles of equality and solidarity, safeguards citizens’ individual rights and creates a favourable environment for entrepreneurship, investment and all drivers of economic activity and social development,” he said. An effort was also made to reflect the government’s centre-right character through its choice of people. A strengthened DIKO presence, the retention of figures with a DISY background, representation from DIPA and, to some extent, an attempt to satisfy voters further to the right. There was even an effort to project the image of a DISY-DIKO coalition government. Neophytou’s political positioning and messages to the Presidential Palace and DISY Averof Neophytou is operating politically with 2028 in mind. For him, the internal party battle remains open, as he retains a strong base of support within DISY. Within the broader political landscape, Neophytou is pursuing a distinctly political strategy. He has invested – and continues to invest – in what he sees as the collapse of image-driven politics and the vindication of his own style of politics. The Cyprus problem is the central pillar of the political identity he wants to project. UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s visit in recent days allowed him to send messages in several directions. First and foremost, he sought to highlight his different approach to the Cyprus problem compared with Christodoulides. Whatever one’s view of his position, it gives Neophytou a clear political identity and also differentiates him from the DISY leadership, which has frequently faced criticism for lacking a political compass. “You got the hint, President, but you are pretending not to understand. At last, not everything is personal – whether you will or will not go on holiday – but whether the national issue will be put on ‘indefinite leave’. “We will become even better friends if you really overcome the obstacle of one checkpoint so that the road to a solution can open. I repeat: if you go for a solution, I will stand beside you. If not, you will answer to history. “P.S. Since March 2025, you have committed yourselves to opening four checkpoints. If in a year and a half you have not managed to agree with the Turkish Cypriots to open even one, how many more decades will be needed for refugees to return to their properties and for the Cyprus problem to be solved?” Neophytou wrote this in a social media post last week in response to comments by President Christodoulides during an interview with ANT1, when the President was asked to respond to an earlier post by the former DISY leader. Neophytou took up the challenge, using it to address the substance of the issue and emphasise his political differences with Christodoulides. But he also seized the opportunity to confirm that the main target of his previous post had not been Christodoulides, but the DISY leadership. Neophytou’s earlier post, in which he referred to the messages sent by the UN Secretary-General and expressed concern about developments, ended with a pointed remark that despite what Guterres had said, some people were going on holiday and focusing on opinion polls. The reference was aimed at Annita Demetriou and the rest of the DISY leadership and came in response to reports surrounding a poll commissioned by DISY which showed the party president ahead in terms of electability across all scenarios. Neophytou apparently saw this as a behind-the-scenes attempt to eliminate him politically and weaken the prospects of his own potential candidacy. In his earlier post, Neophytou wrote: “Guterres, as he left Cyprus, told us clearly – at least those of us who are not burying our heads in the sand and who insist on understanding what is happening: “‘I have decided on a five-party meeting, but first decide on the opening of at least one checkpoint, agree on the methodology and also on the basic principles regarding the substance of the solution,’ he said clearly, albeit diplomatically. “And yesterday he was even more explicit: “‘Work on what I have told you so that I can convene the five-party meeting for a solution to the Cyprus problem.’ “If the two communities genuinely want a solution to the Cyprus problem rather than holidays, their negotiating teams should already be engaged in intensive talks to cover these issues. “And at the beginning of autumn, they themselves should be calling the Secretary-General and telling him: “‘We have done our preparatory work, agreed on the prerequisites and made progress. You convene the conference.’ “That is what any community desperately seeking a solution would do, 52 years after the occupation. “P.S. Instead, everyone is ready for carefree summer holidays and opinion polls for 2028! We live in our own world! “God help us!” The former DISY president is deeply irritated with the party leadership, apparently believing that an attempt is being made to neutralise him internally by creating a negative climate around him through references to opinion polls showing him trailing Annita Demetriou as a potential candidate. At the same time, according to information being circulated, other polls with broadly converging findings point to a much closer electoral contest. Information is also circulating within DISY about a poll conducted among party members which reportedly gives the party president a lead. Neophytou, for his part, is highlighting what he sees as the qualitative strengths of a potential candidacy of his own – qualities he believes would give him an advantage in a presidential contest fought primarily on political criteria. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Cyprus to stay hot and mainly clear, isolated showers possible from Tuesday Two e-scooter riders crash into sea rocks in Paphos Man arrested after two separate stabbing attacks in Rotterdam Cyprus-Greece ferry link secured for 2027 as subsidy decision awaits ‘Mom, don’t call me’: Inside Thailand’s deadly school shooting Police probe monastery attack as tensions over monk’s conduct come into focus Cyprus temperatures to remain high until at least Wednesday Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.