Michaelides promises Alma will be ‘source of stability’

Alma leader Odysseas Michaelides promised that his party will be a “source of stability” in politics after it won four seats in parliament at its first electoral test on Sunday, having been formed last year.

“The risk analysts and those who believed and claimed that Alma would be the one to cause chaos will realise that Alma will be a source of stability, a source of moderation, a source of rationality. From tomorrow, therefore, words end and actions begin,” he said.

He promised that his party will “defend transparency, people’s rights, and the rule of law”, while opposing “large private interests”, before adding that his party has “already proven its sincerity”.

“We will continue to do this in parliament,” he said.

Commenting on the election results at large, he pointed out that the traditional, established political parties “managed to claw back” some of their voters, with Disy, Akel, and Diko all outperforming pre-election expectations, while newer parties, including his own, won fewer votes than expected.

Additionally, with polls for the day’s parliamentary elections having closed just hours earlier, he admitted to already having an eye on the 2028 presidential election, and stated his aim to remove the incumbent government from power.

“It is time for the descendants of Nicos Anastasiades to hand over executive power. This, therefore, remains our primary goal. We have suffered enough from this governance,” he said.

Anastasiades served as president between 2013 and 2023, and had appointed Michaelides as auditor-general in 2014. Michaelides was removed from that post in 2024 by the supreme constitutional court. Incumbent President Nikos Christodoulides served as Anastasiades’ government spokesman and, later, foreign minister.

Michaelides was then asked whether he will stand for election in 2028, he said that being a candidate himself is “not a necessary condition for the implementation of the movement’s political goals”, and that in saying this, “this precisely refutes the completely false claim that all of this had personal motives”.

المصدر: Cyprus Mail