Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas on Tuesday denied that he plans to leave Dipa after the party lost all its seats at Sunday’s parliamentary election, with it having been rumoured that he was considering rejoining Diko.

“I have not learned in my life to flee from difficult times. The party bodies will sit down to discuss the outcome. I declare myself present inside Dipa because it may be perceived that I am backpedalling. I am not backpedalling for as long as Dipa is here,” he told news website reporter.

He added that “in these difficult times, [Dipa] needs all its people, especially those who hold positions” and that as such, “I am present, I am not running away”.

Despite this, he did, however, suggest that it may be time for Dipa and Diko to remerge, with the former having splintered from the latter in 2018 when a group of Diko members, led by Marios Garoyian, declared party leader Nicholas Papadopoulos’ stance on the Cyprus problem to be too hardline.

“The issue of unifying the space in between is another big issue which should concern us, and we should put together a roadmap to see the prospects for reunification,” Palmas said on Tuesday.

Palmas had initially been a member of Diko, serving as the leader of the party’s youth wing and then as the party’s secretary-general, before going to serve as director of late president Tassos Papadopoulos’ press office, and then as Papadopoulos’ government spokesman between 2007 and 2008.

Later, he served as deputy minister to the president under Nicos Anastasiades between 2017 and 2022, leaving that government alongside Nikos Christodoulides so as to support the latter’s campaign ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

He joined Dipa in 2021, with Dipa, alongside Diko and Edek, having supported Christodoulides’ 2023 campaign and his government.