Diko leader Nicholas Papadopoulos met Disy leader Annita Demetriou on Tuesday, as discussions regarding who will support whom when parliament elects its president next week commenced.

Papadopoulos confirmed that he had met Demetriou during an appearance on television channel Omega, though remained coy about the content of their discussion.

“We cannot say what we said at the meeting. We will seek meetings with all parties and make decisions when we have all the facts in front of us. Our party’s secretariat had a meeting this morning and we said that we will evaluate all parties’ intentions,” he said.

It has been suggested that Diko and Disy could strike an agreement which would see the latter support Papadopoulos’ bid to be named House president in exchange for the former endorsing Demetriou’s campaign at the 2028 presidential election campaign.

Demetriou had served as House president throughout the course of the last parliament, but her path to re-election appears less than clear, given that the leaders of Elam and Alma, Christos Christou and Odysseas Michaelides, have both publicly ruled out voting for her.

As such, offering support to Papadopoulos and preparing for a presidential run in 2028 would appear strategically wise, while for Papadopoulos, who ran for president in 2018 and could only manage third place, putting his name forward for House president may be a more realistic next step than a 2028 run.

However, he was quick on Tuesday to deny that such conversations are being held between himself and Demetriou, saying that “the presidency of the parliament is in no way connected to the 2028 presidential election”.

“Regardless of whether Disy and Diko coalesce for the presidency of the parliament, the two parties will continue our parliamentary cooperation, since it is for the benefit of the country,” he said.

Asked whether he plans to put his own name forward to be elected House president, he said that “any decision will be made after we have communicated with the other parties”.

The new parliament will first convene on June 4 to elect a House president.