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What little excitement had been reserved ahead of this week’s election fizzled out on Monday night, with the live televised ‘debate’ garnering as much viewership as a repeat of the Bold and the Beautiful.
Nicos Anastasiades concludes his five-year presidency on a relatively high note, boosted by the inability of the opposition to demolish his image, with the remaining presidential hopefuls unable to drive a strong message across to the voters, especially those from neutral camps.
After weeks of mindless mudslinging and accusations in all directions, the undecided will remain so, now more than ever convinced not to show up on election day.
The incumbent has taken his time get things done, planning for four years and implementing almost everything in the last 12 months. A lot of declarations and promises made five years ago have either been washed down, compromised or simply put aside. Even the ruling DISY party seemed undecisive, as it took its share of the blame for the collapse of the economy and the annihilation of the banking system, although a ‘mea culpa’ has yet to be heard from any MP’s mouth.
The opposition candidates, all supported by the establishment parties warmly seated in parliament, have been all talk and have only now embarked on policy measures and strategies. What’s more, they have been talking about plans and new strategies, which means that if anyone else apart from Anastasiades is elected, we will have another four years of planning and a year of implementation starting in 2022!
The discord among the parties was also the chief reason why the two successive rounds of meetings to get the Cyprus talks going simply did not see any success, regardless of Turkey’s well-known intransigence. But judging from the noises made by politicians in Cyprus, it is no wonder that Ankara adopted the “walk in the park” strategy, knowing full well that the Greek Cypriots would never be in tune and could not be taken seriously.
Regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s election and the highly probable second round a week later, what is needed is security and continuity, something that none of the other candidates is willing to prescribe to. The island’s business community and the SMEs have proven that they have successfully shouldered the burden of rebuilding the economy that the politicians destroyed, and this is what needs to be reassured.
Drastic changes and returning to the drawing board in order to experiment with politics and the economy for another five years will simply be the end of us all.
On the other hand, if the opinion polls are proven correct and Anastasiades is re-elected, then the incumbent must realise that he has a great responsibility towards his people, where actions must replace the rhetoric and tangible results must be delivered.
May the best man win.
