George Pamboridis submitted the minimum 500 signatures needed to contest Disy’s internal vote for the party’s 2028 presidential candidate on Friday.

The forms were delivered to the party’s headquarters on Pindarou street with Pamboridis handing over exactly the number required for a candidacy.

The party was told that more signatures are available should any require replacing during verification.

Party staff have begun checking the forms to establish that each signatory is a member with the right to vote in the electoral assembly on November 28.

Averof Neophytou handed in his forms on Thursday, submitting more than 3,000 signatures.

Verification of his 500 required signatures is complete, and party staff will also check the remaining 2,500 or so.

Both men must now formally lodge their candidacies at Pindarou on Monday, October 26, with Neophytou asking his supporters to join him at 11.15am for the occasion.

Neophytou announced on Wednesday that he would seek a vote of confidence from party members to run in the 2028 election.

Pamboridis, said on a podcast earlier on Friday that he wanted a commitment that whoever loses the internal contest will not run as an independent, an apparent allusion to Neophytou’s recent remarks that he would remain a presidential candidate “until the bitter end”.

“There is no such commitment, and I want to hear it,” he said, adding that without it he would not offer one himself.

Neophytou has said the contest will be a healthy competition and that the party will be united the next day.

Disy’s vote for its next presidential candidate will take place on November 28.