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DISY will not support President Nikos Christodoulides in the 2028 presidential election and intends to present its own alternative to voters, party leader Annita Demetriou said Tuesday.
Although the election is still two years away, her statement draws a clear political line: DISY does not plan to reunite behind Christodoulides, despite his long history with the party.
“We will have our own proposal for the upcoming elections,” Demetriou said during an appearance on SIGMA’s morning program, Protoselido.
She said DISY could not support the president because it is an opposition party and intends to continue acting as one, supporting the government when it agrees, but challenging it when it does not.
The announcement is important because Christodoulides began his political career within DISY and served in the government of former President Nicos Anastasiades. However, he ran for president in 2023 without DISY’s endorsement, defeating the party’s official candidate, Averof Neophytou, and deepening divisions within the centre-right political family.
Demetriou’s comments suggest those wounds have not been fully healed, and that DISY wants to fight the next election under its own banner rather than help Christodoulides secure a second term.
Who could DISY put forward?
Several names are already being discussed, including former DISY leader Averof Neophytou, former Health Minister Giorgos Pamboridis and Demetriou herself, who is also president of the House of Representatives.
Demetriou did not rule herself in or out. Instead, she said other names could also emerge before the party makes its final decision.
“There may be other names,” she said. “There is nothing wrong with having ambitions.”
But she stressed that personal ambitions would have to come second to the party and its formal procedures.
“We all belong to a political group which we respect,” she said. “It has rules and procedures, and these will be followed.”
“Above all of us is Democratic Rally, and above Democratic Rally is our country,” she added.
