High tech presidential campaign for Demetriades

Independent presidential candidate Achilleas Demetriades is pulling out all the stops to woo younger voters, with a minibus roving across the towns decked out with the latest bells and whistles in tech.

Plastered with larger-than-life photographs of himself alongside young people with beaming smiles, the minibus’ rear also features a QR code, which people can scan with their smart phones, taking them directly to Demetriades’ dedicated website.

The green-and-white vehicle also sports the candidate’s main campaign slogan – “Cyprus deserves better.”

The 61-year-old candidate will meanwhile be inaugurating his campaign headquarters in Nicosia. The premises are located at the old Bank of Cyprus branch building on the intersection of Kennedy Avenue and Esperidon Street.

A get-to-know you cocktail party will take place there at 8pm on Wednesday, with a live link-up to a popular music radio station.

A lawyer by profession, Demetriades recently got the endorsement of the ‘The Famagusta For Cyprus’ movement. So far he has not received backing from any of the established parties.

A poll released earlier this month showed Demetriades – son of longtime Nicosia mayor Lellos Demetriades – garnering 4.9 per cent of the popular vote.

He trailed the main candidates Nicos Christodoulides (33.1 per cent), Andreas Mavroyiannis (12.5 per cent), and Averof Neophytou 11.9 per cent.

Demetriades’ main campaign plank calls for a ‘modern state’ free of corruption. He says a new leadership is needed to explain to Europe the mistakes made – the golden passports, the Pandora Papers – and to align with European interests because under the umbrella of Europe “we will avoid the two-states mire.”

The presidential elections will be held in early February 2023. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff will be held a week later.