Cypriot Green Party backs Papadopoulos’ bid for reelection

The Movement of Ecologists and Environmentalists (Cyprus Green Party) has decided to support Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos’ bid for reelection in the Presidential Elections to take place in the coming February.
An extraordinary meeting decided Sunday to support Papadopoulos’ candidacy with 46 votes (79.3%) out of 58 elected representatives. Nine representatives (15.5%) voted in favour of AKEL’s General Secretary and House President Demetris Christofias’ candidacy, while there were three blank votes.
Speaking after the meeting, the Movement’s MP and General Secretary Giorgos Perdikis said that the decision is subject to the inclusion of the Ecologists’ positions in Papadopoulos pre-election programme and the fulfillment of Papadopoulos’ commitments given to the party during their meetings.
Perdikis said that the important issues on which the outcome was shaped were the poll carried out between the movement members, which showed that a 60% majority favoured Papadopoulos’ bid for reelection and the party’s support for a multi party government.
”The door for a wider coalition of the centre-right party should remain open,” he added.
Regarding the Cyprus problem, Perdikis said that the Green Party has differences with Papadopoulos, adding however, ”the positions of the other candidates were even further apart from our positions.”
Centre-right Democratic Party (DIKO), which Papadopoulos led, the Social Democratic Movement EDEK and the European Party have also decided to back Papadopoulos.
Apart from President Papadopoulos, House President and General Secretary of left-wing AKEL Demetris Christofias, former Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, backed by the main opposition party Democratic Rally, and former Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous have so far announced their decision to run for the presidency in February.