Lawyer Achilleas Demetriades announced on Monday evening his candidacy for Cyprus’ 2023 presidential elections, under the slogan “Cyprus deserves better.”
Speaking at a large public gathering in Nicosia, Demetriades said he has the strength and the plan to meet the expectations of the citizens to regain hope and dignity.
“I want to clear our country from corruption. I want to give it prospects, looking forward to 2035. I want to solve the Cyprus problem because the solution is in our interest,” he stressed.
Demetriades presented the “Outline of my positions” for a governance with prospects, which will lead Cyprus out of today’s deadlocks, free of corruption, the lack of meritocracy and the absence of credibility.
«We do not deserve this Cyprus, this is not the Cyprus we want for our children,” he underlined, pointing out at the same time the “collapse of the game with East Med, the danger of losing Varosha and Cyprus being led onto the rocks of division.”
He also stressed that he believes in the strength of the people of Cyprus, their tenacity and their belief in progress.
Cyprus, he recalled, “has achieved a lot under difficult circumstances. It can do so again now, with hope, clear positions, feasible proposals which can be implemented.”
Explaining his positions on the three pillars – Honest State, Cyprus 2035 and a Cyprus Solution is in our Interest, he expressed the conviction that “it is up to us to embark on a gradual change to reunite our island, modernize our state and our institutions and become an open, modern, European state with balanced growth which will benefit all people.”
Concluding his opening remarks, Demetriades raised a dilemma with regard to the 2023 presidential elections: “It is high time for big decisions: will the wall of division determine our lives or are we going to change things? We offer hope against fear. We advocate collective strength together, against personal gains.”
The announcement of Demetriades’ candidacy comes in the wake of consultations with organised groups, personalities, party leaders, experts, trade unions and social institutions, and following public gatherings in Limassol, Larnaca, Pafos and the free areas of Famagusta district.
In his opening statement, he condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pointing out that what we are witnessing concern us all and “we have to react.”
He announced that his Political Office is collecting humanitarian aid, in terms of clothing and dry food, for the Ukrainian people.
