Even in this heat, they’re talking presidentials!

Opinion akeldikodisyelections Even in this heat, they’re talking presidentials! Voulll 1536x1036 Relevant News Even in this heat, they’re talking presidentials! 14 July 2026 A taste of the simple life 14 July 2026 State-of-the-art stadiums, apparently 14 July 2026 Costas Venizelos 14 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Not even the fact that we’re a year and a half out from the presidential election, February 2028, puts them off. Not the developments already reshaping the landscape, at home and across the region. And certainly not the dog days of summer, late to arrive this year, but here now. None of it slows them down. All of it, though, and plenty more besides, is very much our problem. The public’s. Talk of the presidentials actually kicked off back in 2023, the day after the last one. But now the interest from would-be candidates is out in the open. After the parliamentary elections, they’ve got no reason left to keep up appearances. And so the scenarios have started, feeding straight into the media. It’s become the norm, however politically unhealthy, that the moment one election cycle ends, the next begins. From the 2023 presidential election, with all its upheavals and reversals, through the European and local elections held together as a kind of bridge, to the parliamentary vote of 24 May. The result was barely in, the pros and cons of the campaign barely weighed, before the presidential guessing game was under way. Nobody’s hiding the rush. And that rush breeds mistakes. It pushes the players, individuals and parties alike, back onto stale old recipes, proof that they’ve learned nothing from their last defeats. They’ve mistaken not being wiped out at the polls for a restoration of public trust. As if the public’s contempt for political parties had simply vanished by magic. As if voters have seen the light and trooped back to the traditional parties. Back into the fold, as the old-timers used to put it. But that’s not what happened. Elections for MPs, mayors, deputy mayors, councillors and village heads are a different animal entirely from a presidential race. Some hopefuls are already out and about. Not all of them. Some are waiting in the wings, letting a few of those already exposed get burned first, so the field clears, at least a little, and they can swoop in playing saviour. More often than not, it’s the DISY crowd who lead the dance. The right has had the upper hand in recent years and is seen as the safe bet, the corner shop everyone assumes will still be trading come polling day. Except that corner shop got knocked out before the second round last time. Nothing here is guaranteed, least of all now. Over at AKEL, out of government since 2013, they’re trying on alternative outfits, banking on the opposite camp splitting apart. Yet even this early, they seem short on both ideas and faces. Which is why they keep circling back to “safe bets” that have already been tried and already failed. What should really worry them is that even at DISY’s lowest ebb, AKEL still couldn’t pull ahead. Of the traditional parties, DIKO was the one that came through the last parliamentary vote intact, and it’s breathing a little easier for now. But a centrist party lurching rightwards, propped up mainly by its own old voters, isn’t exactly a strategy built to last. It’s clear that once summer’s over, the parties will floor it towards the presidentials. DISY and AKEL are permanently on the attack against the government, and their own running battle with each other suits them just fine too. Presumably they think it rallies their base. Though that base is quite capable of noticing the deals being struck between the two of them, some hidden, some not so hidden. President Christodoulides has a year and a half left to deliver on his five-year programme. In the middle of an increasingly toxic pre-election climate, getting anything done gets harder by the day. You can see as much in the way factions within parliament keep tripping the government up. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News A taste of the simple life State-of-the-art stadiums, apparently Popular contraceptive pills now carry brain tumour warning Bora Markovic promotes Cyprus abroad, waits 30 years for citizenship EU optimistic about rapid enlargement on ‘Super Tuesday’ Explained: Cyprus electricity supply risk and the hours that matter most Environmental groups raise concern over beer festival near protected Natura 2000 site Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.