Nicosia, Cyprus. Former bar association chairman Christos Clerides filed his candidacy in the Nicosia district at the top of the ballot of Demal (Democratic Change) for the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Clerides founded the party last year.
Candidacy filing and party message
On Wednesday, Clerides said, “we hope that the voice against destructive solutions for Cyprus will be heard,” adding that his party will advocate “for a free Cyprus, free from military occupation, troops and guarantees”.
“This is the message we wanted to give. We are the opponents of mediocrity. We will fight for a modern and European Cyprus which will fight against mediocrity and corruption,” he said.
Recent headlines and the ‘Sandy’ case
Clerides has made headlines in recent weeks for his commentary on the ‘Sandy’ case, in which Volt candidate Makarios Drousiotis has levelled a series of accusations at a range of high-profile figures.
‘Sandy’ is the name of a woman whom Drousiotis accuses former supreme court judge Michalakis Christodoulou of raping. In response to those allegations, the police searched the home and office of her lawyer, Nikos Clerides, who is Christos Clerides’ cousin.
Nikos Clerides is also a candidate for Demal in Nicosia.
Polling and Clerides’ previous parliamentary record
Polling suggests that Demal will not win any seats at the election, but were Clerides to win a seat, it would not be the first time he entered the House.
He was elected as an MP for the New Horizons party in 2001 and remained in parliament in 2006. The party folded into Demetris Syllouris’ Evroko party in 2005, and while Evroko won three seats in 2006, Clerides, despite standing for re-election, was unsuccessful.
Background on Demetris Syllouris
Syllouris went on to join Eleni Theocharous’ Solidarity Movement in 2016 and served as House President between 2016 and 2020, eventually resigning after a report published by news company Al Jazeera into the alleged illegal naturalisations of people as citizens of Cyprus, commonly known as the ‘golden passports scandal’.
What impact do you think Demal’s campaign messages will have on the parliamentary election in Nicosia?
