Edek calls off two scheduled electoral process as court battle drags on

Following another court injunction, socialist party Edek has called off until further notice two scheduled electoral processes, with the party leader accusing dissidents of deliberate sabotage.

In a statement, party boss Marinos Sizopoulos announced the cancellation of Thursday’s congress to review the party charter as well as an electoral procedure scheduled for the coming weekend.

It followed a ruling handed down a day earlier by Nicosia district court, prohibiting Edek from holding these events due to objections raised by certain party members.

It was the latest in a series of court injunctions issued over the past month or so.

Sizopoulos said it was clear that certain quarters are out to disrupt the party’s electoral processes. These same persons, he suggested, were rogue elements within the party who in the past had even backed candidates from other parties.

“This is also proved by the fact that, to date, they have posted more than €200,000 in guarantees in court, simply to impede the party’s democratic procedures.”

Sizopoulos urged the party faithful not to lose heart, saying that democracy would prevail despite the ongoing litigation.

In a move likely designed to sidestep the legal wrangling that has tied up Edek’s electoral processes, this week Sizopoulos submitted a proposal where parties’ political decisions would be exempted from judicial scrutiny provided the decisions were based on their charters.

The politician said his proposal aimed to restore a provision that had been included in the law in 2012, which precluded judicial scrutiny of party decisions based on their charter.

The provision was removed in 2015 in line with the recommendations of the Group of States against Corruption (Greco), the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption monitoring body.

Sizopoulos said these recommendations only concerned financial administration and decisions relating to party finances and not all political decisions.