House President and Disy leader Annita Demetriou on Monday announced that she will stand for the party’s nomination to be its candidate at the 2028 presidential election.

“I feel the obligation and responsibility as party leader to place myself before the party members, and I will be a candidate for nomination for the upcoming presidential election,” she said.

She added that Disy “has declared itself present”, and that “it will have a candidate, both for the good of its members and for the good of the rest”.

“We will talk about everything else in the coming days,” she said.

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Her announcement comes after her predecessor as Disy leader Averof Neophytou declared his intention to run for president a day earlier. On this point, she added “it is important to ensure the unity and cohesion of the party and respect the democratic procedures provided for in the statute”.

Candidates who wish to secure Disy’s backing must be party members and secure the signatures of at least 500 fellow members, of whom 100 must belong to the party’s “supreme council” – its lower internal decision-making body.

Would-be candidates who secure the signatures will then be placed on a ballot of all party members, with the winner of that ballot being declared the party’s candidate.

Annita joins an already crowded field of presidential candidates

Despite there being more than 16 months until the election, which is scheduled to take place in February 2028, Demetriou has joined an already crowded field of candidates, including inside her own party.

Averof Neophytou had on Sunday declared that he will be a candidate, citing a lack of progress made on the Cyprus problem under the governance of incumbent President Nikos Christodoulides.

Prior to his announcement, former health minister George Pamboridis had announced in July that he would seek the party’s nomination for the presidency.

Outside of Disy, former Greek Cypriot chief negotiator for the Cyprus problem Andreas Mavroyiannis is seeking Akel’s backing for a second successive election campaign, while Alma leader Odysseas Michaelides also appears likely to run.

Christodoulides, too, appears certain to stand for re-election and is seeking the backing of Diko, with his health minister and Diko member Neophytos Charalambides having declared that Diko will support him, but party leader Nicholas Papadopoulos appearing less sure.

It has also been suggested that Elam may support Christodoulides’ campaign in 2028.

Christodoulides had been a Disy member prior to the 2023 election, and served in former president Nicos Anastasiades’ government as its spokesman and foreign minister.

He defied the party at that election, standing as an independent, despite it having already endorsed Neophytou.

It reacted by expelling him, but he won the endorsement of Diko, Dipa, and Edek and went on to win the election, while Neophytou could only manage third place.