The showdown between Tornaritis and Prountzos in the capital city carries significant weight for the party leaderships of the three collaborating parties.
The stakes for DISY, DIKO, and DIPA are high, and if Nikos Tornaritis fails to be elected, this will also be attributed to them for the way the scenario unfolded.
For DIPA, it holds even greater significance because the new Municipality of the capital is a region where it gathers significant electoral percentages, and also because the candidate is the parliamentary representative of the party.
The Municipality of Nicosia was from the outset at the center of the electoral processes for the local elections, with the name of the parliamentary representative of DISY, Nikos Tornaritis, being brought to the table last December to pave the way for the efforts of the triple party cooperation for the new Municipality of the capital.
DISY, DIKO, and DIPA had agreed to collaborate, with the responsibility of selecting a candidate falling on DIPA, which was judged for the intra-party procedures it had followed during the previous period with conducting polls.
The leaderships of DIKO and DIPA were not warm to the case of Andreas Konstantinou, who was the frontrunner based on the polls, and at that time various scenarios had started circulating regarding AKEL’s wedge into the cooperation, ready to support a candidate either from DIKO or DIPA.
At that time, some names had been considered, such as Marinos Cleanthous. It was around that time that the name of Nikos Tornaritis emerged as a savior, as presented, of the cooperation.
For different reasons, his candidacy faces some difficulties. Either because of the way it emerged, seen by some as an imposition against the candidacy of Konstantinou, the current mayor of Aglantzia, or because voters of DIKO mainly consider the cooperation agreement with DISY unequal, as their party did not receive similar support for its own candidate in another municipality. Or even because some want a new face.
On the contrary, Charalambos Prountzos came from the outside with the profile of an independent and seems to be exploiting the recorded intention of protest against Tornaritis’ candidacy so far.
Essentially offering, with his candidacy, as a lifeline to AKEL, which for a long time was in a difficult position, seeking someone to be a candidate in a race that was largely considered lost from the start.
There had of course been the intense pressuring of AKEL on Achilleas Demetriades to be a candidate, which, however, due to the personal and professional obligations of the well-known lawyer, did not have a positive outcome.
The candidacy of Charalambos Prountzos carries the profile of independence and largely follows the mostly successful model, as perceived by Leftist circles, of the candidacy of Andreas Mavroyiannis in the presidential elections.
Charalambos Prountzos himself comes from the right-wing sphere, projecting the profile of a technocrat and non-partisan, which helps him access the urban layers of Nicosia’s voters.
The candidacy of Panagiotis Mentzis is presented as an alternative choice for the capital’s voters and will thus continue until the end. He has the support of the Green Movement, and it’s uncertain how far he can go.
Officially added to the equation is the candidacy of Konstantinos Demetriades, a lawyer and son of the historic Mayor of Nicosia, Lellos Demetriades.