Direct Democracy leader says party backed Annita Demetriou because she would have won anyway

Nicosia, Cyprus. Fidias Panayiotou, leader of Direct Democracy, said over the weekend that his party backed Disy’s Annita Demetriou for House president because she would have won in any case. In a social media video, he outlined the vote calculations behind the party’s decision and described the negotiations before the ballot.

Panayiotou outlines party reasoning

Panayiotou, 26, said Direct Democracy chose to back a candidate for House president rather than abstain. He said that with Direct Democracy’s four votes added to Disy’s 17, Demetriou would have received 21 votes in the first round, enough to ensure her passage to the second round.

Alternative scenario involving Nicholas Papadopoulos

Panayiotou said the other option for his party was to support Diko’s Nicholas Papadopoulos. Under that scenario, he said, Papadopoulos would have received eight votes from Diko, eight from Elam and four from Direct Democracy, for a total of 20 votes.

He added, however, that Elam voted in the first round for its leader, Christos Christou, as it had said it would.

Impact on first-round outcome

Panayiotou said that in this scenario Demetriou would have received 17 votes from Disy, while Akel’s Stefanos Stefanou would have received 15 votes from Akel and four from Alma, for a total of 19.

According to Panayiotou, that result would have left Demetriou out of the second round.

Claim on other options

Panayiotou said that any other option, including supporting Akel or abstaining, would have resulted in Demetriou being re-elected.

He said that if Direct Democracy had backed Stefanou, he would have received 23 votes, made up of 15 from Akel, four from Alma and four from Direct Democracy.