Cyprus President confirms he will seek re-election

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos confirmed Monday that he will formally announce his bid for re-election later in the day.

This follows the recent candidacy announced by House president and communist AKEL party leader Demetris Christofias, after which the ruling coalition collapsed with four AKEL ministers resigning.

Papadopoulos quickly replaced them with unknown personalities, with the exception of the new Foreign Minister, Erato Kozakou-Markoulli, an experienced diplomat and until recently the Director General of the Ministry.

Papadopoulos said his decision to seek re-election is granted and wondered why there was still any doubt about his intentions.

“Officially, I have said so a month ago. The formal announcement of my decision is a necessary procedure,” he explained.

“As far as I am concerned, I shall not utter a bad word about either AKEL or its General Secretary, apart from restoring facts which might, at some instance, be presented the wrong way,” he added.

Papadopoulos will be the fourth candidate to run for the presidency next February. Apart from Christofias, the other two candidates are former foreign minister and current MEP Ioannis Kasoulides, backed by the main opposition party Democratic Rally and former agriculture minister Costas Themistocleous.

Three parties have already declared their decision to back Papadopoulos, his own centre-right Democratic Party (DIKO), the Social Democratic Movement EDEK that maintains two ministers in the coalition Cabinet and the smaller nationalist European Party.