As the term of Green Party president Giorgos Perdikis comes to an end, party members will vote for his successor in an internal election this Sunday.

Two experienced politicians are contesting the leadership: Stavros Papadouris and Kyriakos Tsimillis.

Papadouris, 51, has served as a Green MP since 2021 and sits on several House committees, including those on finance, transport, energy and public expenditure control.

His opponent, 75-year-old Tsimillis, is the current vice-president of the party. He chairs the Nicosia municipality’s environment committee and previously served as director of the Cyprus Organisation for the Promotion of Quality from 2009 to 2014.

“We uploaded a recorded video debate between the two candidates on YouTube and are sure the elections will go well”, former party leader and current MP Charalambos Theopemptou told the Cyprus Mail.

Asked why no women were running, Theopemptou said there were no candidates who were both “experienced and self-confident enough” and also interested in the position.

He added that the party’s rules bar employees of the party from standing for leadership, which excluded some potential female candidates. Others, he said, were “too young for such a demanding position.” However, he stressed that the Greens were “the only party to have had two female presidents so far.”

Perdikis was first elected party leader in 2014 and stepped down in 2020, at which point Theopemptou assumed the role. Theopemptou resigned from the leadership in October 2023 for personal reasons, after which Perdikis returned to lead the party.

All members who have paid their annual party fee will be eligible to vote.

The two-hour video debate of the candidates that the party has uploaded can be found on YouTube.