Former health minister considers contesting Disy role

Former Health Minister George Pamborides has lambasted the way elections are taking place for Disy’s leadership, saying he may also run for the race.

Speaking to the LegalMatters podcast, Pamborides said he would think about submitting his candidacy over the next few days and discuss the issue with his wife before making a final decision.

“I believe these are not free elections. They hold me back from the possibility of reaching people and this is what concerns me.

“If I had the opportunity to run a campaign for 60 days and access the people of Disy in free elections, I would absolutely be a candidate,” he said.

Disy’s leadership elections will be held on March 11, a date some quarters were opposed to saying it gives very little time, favouring incumbent Averof Neophytou.

Also running for the race are the party’s MP Demetris Demetriou who resigned from his party spokesman post announcing his candidacy, and Disy’s deputy leader Harris Georgiades.

According to Pamborides, had both Demetriou and Georgiades agreed between themselves to have one candidacy, he would have supported them. Instead, splitting up like this leads to a break up of the votes and only strengthens Neophytou’s position, he argued.

Earlier this week, Pamborides did not hold back in his criticism of the party’s leadership, posting on Twitter “there is a huge weight of responsibility over the historical crisis that the centre-right has found itself in, which must be attributed to the leadership, since they will probably not take up [the responsibility].”