Independents’ push for common candidate fails

The efforts of the four independents to form an alliance and field a joint candidate in the February elections has fallen through, according to Achilleas Demetriades.

The confirmation comes just a day after Christodoulos Protopapas pulled out of the exploratory efforts.

Demetriades announced the end of the talks after a meeting was held with the other two candidates hoping to secure an alliance – Marios Eliades and Constantinos Christofides.

Demetriades said: “Public opinion expected more from us. It expected us to move faster, because truly with our cooperation we could have created a new force on the electoral stage.”

He noted that the failure to reach an agreement within a reasonable amount of time showed that there were still considerable differences between them.

Demetriades emphasised, however, that he will press forward with his candidacy along with his friends and the supporters of his bid.

For weeks the independents been conducting parleys on how to join forces, with a view to garnering enough support to push their alliance into the runoff of the February 2023 elections.

The independents are banking on the large pool of potential votes – the segment of the population not aligned with any of the traditional parties, as well as first-time voters.

In late September, Christofides told the Cyprus Mail that whereas the four did not set a deadline for coming to an agreement, for practical reasons the matter could not be left to drag on past October.