Edek on Sunday refused to accept party leader Nikos Anastasiou’s resignation after he had attempted to leave the post in light of the party losing all its seats at last month’s parliamentary election.

As such, he remains party leader for now, with a party conference having been scheduled for November.

He had taken over the party’s leadership in June last year following the surprise resignation of Marinos Sizopoulos, who had led the party for 11 years after facing criticism in the aftermath of what was seen then as a disappointing return of just five per cent of the vote at the 2024 European Parliament election.

A year on, Edek won just 3.25 per cent of the vote, recording the party’s worst result in its 56-year history. Anastasiou did not stand in this year’s election.

Related Articles

Speaking at the party’s office as the results came in last month, he said that “the result does not please us and unfortunately is an injustice to both Edek and to Cyprus itself”, before lamenting his party’s lack of unity during the months preceding the election.

“From the first day I took over as Edek leader, I did everything humanly possible to gather and unite the peace of our party. Despite my continuous and sincere efforts, some fellow activists preferred to stay away,” he said.

He added that he “fully” accepts “my share of the responsibility” for the result, but said that others should “take on their responsibilities for seeing the danger Edek was facing and choosing to stay away”.