‘Second blow’ to Greens as Theopemptou stands down as leader

Green party leader Charalampos Theopemptou resigned as party leader on Tuesday, a day after MP Alexandra Attalides resigned from the party.

Theopemptou has already turned in his resignation to the political committee of the Greens, saying that he is resigning for personal reasons.

According to Green party parliamentary assistant Efi Xanthou: “This is the second blow [to the party] in one day.”

She told the Cyprus Mail that now the party will have “to get our act together”. She added that Theopemptou was well-liked as party leader by the party.

The Greens are set to meet on December 3 for a general party conference, and Xanthou added that this might be the most likely date for the election of the next party leader.

For now, the position of party leader will be taken up by the now deputy leader. Theopemptou is also a Greens MP for Nicosia, and he will retain that seat, as he has not resigned from the party.

Theopemptou became the party leader after Giorgos Perdikes in 2020.

Meanwhile on Monday, MP Alexendra Attalides resigned from the party saying: “This decision is the result of a series of events [that] confirm that the Environmental Movement is at odds with the principles and values of the Greens of Europe which I unreservedly adopt as my own, and [this] leaves me no [alternative] but to depart.”

In a strongly worded statement, the MP listed six reasons for abandoning the party, among them its dead-end position on the Cyprus issue; unethical attacks by members of the party over her support of rights for same sex couples; and retaliation over her choice to support the candidacy of Andreas Mavroyiannis in the presidential elections.