Maria Panayiotou will leave her post as agriculture minister, deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou said on Friday, as the prospect of a cabinet reshuffle appears to draw closer.

He told television channel Omega that he can say “for certain” that “at this moment, the fact we have before us is that the agriculture minister must be replaced, as she will take a position in the education sector”.

Panayiotou, a philology teacher, was included on the educational service commission’s list of appointees to teaching roles in February for the coming September.

“Aside from that, regarding any other possible thoughts the president may have, I cannot share them with you as I do not know myself,” Antoniou said on Friday.

He said that he has “information” and that he “understands some things”, but that the announcement of ministerial hirings and firings is “something which we should leave to the president”.

Asked whether he had just confirmed that Panayiotou will return to her teaching job in September and leave the ministry, he said “I think this is abundantly clear”.

Rumours of a cabinet reshuffle have been rife since May’s parliamentary elections, which saw two of the parties which have offered support to President Nikos Christodoulides, Dipa and Edek, lose all their seats in the House.

It is believed that Diko, which, with its eight seats in parliament, is now the only government-supporting party in the legislature, may wish to use this fact to grow its stake in the current government.

This sense may be heightened after Disy and its leader Annita Demetriou elected to stand for and win the House presidency rather than exchange the role for Diko’s support for her likely campaign at the 2028 presidential election.

Meanwhile, Christodoulides postponed a cabinet meeting by a day so as to hold a meeting with Diko leader Nicholas Papadopoulos at the beginning of the month, further fuelling rumours that Diko may be exerting pressure on the government to grow its influence.

At present, three ministries are run by Diko, with Finance Minister Makis Keravnos, Energy Minister Michael Damianos, and Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides belonging to the party.

Dipa and Edek currently control three ministries between them, with Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas and Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas belonging to Dipa, and the departing Panayiotou belonging to Edek.

Edek had expressed dissatisfaction with Christodoulides’ most recent cabinet reshuffle, which was carried out in November last year, and which saw no new ministers appointed who belonged to Edek, leaving Panayiotou as the party’s only minister.

Then party leader Nikos Anastasiou said at the time that “we expected that the president … would see Edek in a better light”, though now the party is without seats in parliament, it finds itself in a weaker position.

However, Panayiotou has faced repeated calls to resign, particularly in light of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in farms across the island in the first half of the year, and following a wildfire which broke out in the Limassol district and killed two people last summer.

Both House President Annita Demetriou and Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou both demanded that she be relieved of her duties earlier this year, with the former saying that “patience” with Panayiotou “has its limits”, and Stefanou saying that it is “incomprehensible” that Panayiotou remains in post.

Last year, too, it was reported that she may lose her job after the wildfire, after having made comments which were deemed insensitive. She said of the fire that “the only way we could have prevented [it] was for it not to have started”.

Meanwhile, then Disy MP Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis said that she and Gregoriou had both misled parliament in their testimonies before a joint session of the House interior, agriculture, and environment committees which was convened to examine the state’s response to the fires.