Who’s who in the Disy leadership elections: Demetris Demetriou

With the party leadership elections for Disy on Saturday,  the Cyprus Mail has prepared a profile of the two candidates. Annita Demetriou and Demetris Demetriou. So either way, the winner will inevitably be a Demetriou.

Nicosia-born contender Demetris Demetriou has been one of the public faces of the party for five years. The 41-year-old comes from a completely different background unrelated to politics, being an electrical engineer.

He has been the party spokesman since 2018 but withdrew last month when he announced he was running for the party’s leadership.

Demetriou’s journey with Disy began in 2019 where he was the deputy party leader for Disy’s youth group, followed by heading the party’s young scientists organisation between 2013 – 2017.

The contender is currently serving his second term in parliament with the party, where he scored the second highest votes from all MPs across all parties.

Despite his public persona, Demetriou has avoided large clashes with other contenders, keeping a relatively low profile and staying away from any major scandals.

He was the first Disy cadre to announce he was running for the party’s top post, stressing that although certain party members threw their weight behind his contender, he was going to focus on the “genuine and true people” of Disy.

Along with his competitor for the post, Demetriou has stressed the party is in need of unity and at a critical turning point of its history.

He was one of the party members that openly criticised outgoing party leader Averof Neophytou for setting an election date so near to the election defeat, saying it was an attempt to detract from efforts to reflect on how the party came to experience such a colossal and historic loss.

“I firmly believe that what the Democratic Rally needs today is a total restart.”

His moral compass, he said includes the values of freedom, justice and transparency “but above all the reunification of our homeland”.

He stressed that write-off’s will be one of the main issues he will try to combat, concerning a number of Disy members that were kicked out of the party over the past few months.

Demetriou studied electrical engineering at the University of Patra and obtained a masters in business management from the University of Cyprus. He is married with Dina Penga and they have one daughter.