The AKEL electoral conference for the ratification of the candidacy of Andreas Mavrogiannis is taking place today, with which the party of the Left will officially enter the race for the Presidential Elections of 2023.
In During the election conference, Mr. Stefanou addressed a speech, through which he explained the reasons why the Left Party ended up supporting the candidacy of Andreas Mavrogiannis, while emphasizing the need for change.
In his statements last Thursday, in the context of the show “Morning Inspection” of Politis 107.6 and 97.6, the Secretary General of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, stated, regarding the proceedings of the conference, that “the members of the AKEL conference have the right to speak of the party “since discussions have been held with friends as well as with the New Forces, in support of Andreas Mavrogiannis. He added that the New Forces have expressed their views in meetings that have taken place.
The conference was opened by the organizing secretary, Haris Karamanos, who said that we must “block the way to the most conservative government the country has ever known, the stakes of the elections”.
Mr. Stefanou spoke, emphasizing that the message of change expresses society at large. The decision for Cyprus is a decision for tomorrow, added the Secretary General of AKEL. He addressed the question if we want a Cyprus that will suit the current rulers, while he also referred to the young people, on whom the efforts should be focused.
He did not fail to mention the Cyprus issue, saying that the data leading to the division must change.
We can, he stressed, achieve progressive change, restore optimism and a smile on the faces of people of Cyprus. At the core of progressive change is the solution of the Cyprus problem and the reunification of the peoples of Cyprus.
In his speech, he analyzed AKEL's vision for progressive change, talking about a welfare state and a barrier to unregulated labor relations. Mr. Stefanou stressed the need to protect the GESS from being undermined and to improve it without changing its philosophy.
Support in public hospitals is necessary, as well as democratic and human education. p> Progressive change, he said, must be done and in the face of corruption entanglement, to increase the credibility of our country internationally. We must end this division, underlined Stefanos Stefanou. “The need for change is everywhere. “We have the vision, we have the will to bring about change,” he said.
Why Mavrogianni
Analyzing Mavrogianni's choice, Mr. Stefanou explained that the support of an independent cross-party candidate was the goal. We looked for a candidate who shares with us the change, with a social sign and wants a solution to the ICC in the Cyprus issue. “We looked for a candidate with social sensitivity. Which agrees with us on the Cyprus issue. With important relations in the international political arena. To be honest and clean, to be able to address society. “
We concluded, he continued, in the proposal for Andreas Mavrogiannis because we are convinced that he meets the conditions and that it is a winning choice.
The whole speech
“This day is important. Not only because the Pancyprian Conference is the culmination of a long course of internal party dialogue with the members, the New Forces and the friends of the Party.
It is important because here we are not deciding on a person or an electoral battle. Here we decide for our place.
For us, Cyprus goes beyond the party and the ideology and any personal beliefs. Because the decision for Cyprus is a decision for tomorrow. For our children. For the young people who are among us today and rightfully demand a homeland that will embrace their dreams.
This is what I want to start today. From the dilemma of the upcoming presidential elections which will determine our current decision:
We want a Cyprus that will suit the current rulers or a homeland for those who are not comfortable with the stale dreams;
With this question in mind, we started the internal party processes that led us to today's Pancyprian Conference.
At AKEL we are proud of the democratic procedures we follow. Processes that combine dialogue with the evaluation of all the data around the Presidential Elections and the synthesis of different points of view. It is through this coordinated process that party members have a say and a role and participate in decision-making.
AKEL is not afraid nor does it avoid dialogue with its people. On the contrary! He pursues it because through discussion and reflection the best possible decisions can be made. It is through this process that the leadership takes the feeling and the view of the base and works what we call collective wisdom.
We at AKEL are proud of one more fact: that regardless of the views that exist, when decisions are made we all line up behind them and rush to work to implement them. All together with a fist, with a momentum, with strength and form. This is what we always do.
So we will do now! Once we make our final decision today in the Conference, we will all be thrown into the difficult battle of the Presidential Elections. Because for us the Elections have nothing to do with party calculations and personal agendas. They have nothing to do with the distribution of ministerial and institutional positions, nor with looting of power. For us, these do not count. We do not count them. For us, what counts, our only criterion and concern is how to better serve our country and its people. How our people will continue to live and create on this wonderful island.
AKEL always approaches the Presidential Elections as a starting point to open new perspectives and new horizons for the country us and our society.
Especially now that Cyprus is facing many and serious impasses, many of which were caused by the ten-year rule of DISY. Now, we must face them with determination and find solutions to the multiple problems that plague the country.
First of all, there is an urgent need for Cyprus to get out of the stalemate of the prolonged impasse that consolidates the division. To get out of the quagmire of social inequalities, institutional entanglement and corruption, unworthiness and authoritarianism that have prevailed in recent years.
We want, we seek and we will continue to work consistently giving all our forces to dawn a better day for our country and society. To turn the page and move forward.
The future of our country is for us synonymous with progressive change. This is what our place needs. This is what our people are looking for.
Progressive change is not an empty slogan without content. Progressive change embodies the vision and challenges of the new age that are difficult, contradictory, demanding. It contains the action plan that is specific and targeted. The bold words, the big slogans and the cheap “I commit” do not get anywhere. We have been living in this situation for almost ten years. That is why we must leave them and we will leave them behind.
We can achieve progressive change by activating all the forces of our country and all the talents of our people.
We can and must inspire society again, beat fatalism and restore optimism. To bring back the smile on the faces of our people, who live with the daily stress and pressure of social and economic insecurity.
Cypriot
Progressive change has at its core the promotion of a solution to the Cyprus problem. A solution that would end the Turkish occupation, get rid of the barbed wire and reunite our place and people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
Many ask: but is it possible with a so provocative and aggressive Turkey towards us to solve the Cyprus problem?
We answer: if we do not move, if we do not take concrete initiatives to create momentum for the resumption of negotiations from the point where they were interrupted using the acquis created through many years of negotiations, no one else will move on our behalf.
If we do not put before Turkey the need for a solution with concrete proposals that create momentum, it will continue to use the prolonged impasse and consolidate the division on the ground. This is what he is doing now in Famagusta, whose opening of the enclosed area was ultimately neither a firework nor a communication ploy by Turkey.
Cyprus is unfortunately on the verge of final division. We do not compromise and do not accept the division. We will continue to fight it fighting for the solution of our national problem.
Economy
The progressive change includes the formation of a new development model, which will ensure stability and sustainability in the local economy and will produce quality jobs. A model that permanently and irrevocably abandons the policies of grabbing and temporary profit, which during the period of DISY's rule became a formal and repeated practice. It invests in the comparative advantages of our country and in the traditional sectors that have proved their importance over the years. Primarily, it supports small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the backbone of our economy. At the same time, it integrates and utilizes new technologies, research and innovation, creating new areas of economic and business activity. The new model promotes the green and circular economy.
Welfare State
Progressive change includes the strengthening and upgrading of the welfare state so that it can adequately and qualitatively meet the basic needs of society. To be able to deal decisively with social inequality and not to give feedback and reinforce it, as is being done now. We aim to create a welfare state that ensures dignity for workers, retirees, vulnerable groups, refugees, the suffering, the new generation that must rely on having a family and housing that is now an elusive dream.
< p class = "x_MsoNormal"> Work with rights
Progressive change promotes regulations that block cheap and unpaid work and unregulated forms of work. Institutionally ensures the implementation of collective agreements. It secures decent salaries and basic rights.
Public Health
The progressive change promotes and supports public health which must be provided universally, equally and qualitatively by the GESS. GESS is a great social conquest. It must be protected from excavation and at the same time improved, its shortcomings and weaknesses must be covered without changing its philosophy, character and architecture. The progressive change supports and upgrades the public hospitals to the backbone of GESY.
Quality Education
A very important pillar of progressive change is the existence of modern, democratic and human Education which will make our children happy, enjoy life and have the will to create. An education that will not burden our children with stress and pressure, victims of an examination system and pre-education.
Rule of law
Progressive change includes the restoration of the rule of law to protect human rights and civil liberties, equal treatment of non-discriminatory citizens, unhindered access to justice, respect for independent institutions and their independence from political interference.
The progressive change resolutely and without any compromise stands against the entanglement and corruption, which in the days of Alarm rule has really taken off.
An important element and pursuit of change is the restoration of the international credibility of our country, which has collapsed due to the policy of golden passports, but also the deception of European institutions by the rulers. We do not tolerate Cyprus being dragged into the headlines and headlines of the international media. We must end this fragmentation led to the behavior of the rulers.
Environment
Progressive change includes the protection and development of the environment. To do this, it is necessary to end policies that sacrifice the environment on the altar of big interests, anarchic and unplanned developments. Priority is given to protecting natural resources from anarchic development.
The problems are many. Even more are the challenges facing our country. The task is very difficult. Local and international conditions are difficult anyway. The need for change arises everywhere. We have the vision, we also have the will to get the country out of the quagmire and bring about real change. And I emphasize the “real” as in the presidential elections not only persons are opposed. The real stake is in politics. On the one hand, there are those who want the continuation of the Anastasiadis-Democratic Alarm government. On the other hand, we bet on those who want the place to finally turn the page.
To make this possible we recognize and understand as AKEL the need for cooperation and mobilization of as many forces as possible.
All this time we have worked very hard to achieve understanding and cooperation. Talking first of all with the opposition parties. In order to achieve cooperation, we went to great lengths, we proposed that a candidate from the wider opposition space be supported, who could express all the forces that expect change. The fact that cooperation at the leadership level has not been achieved does not mean that we are abandoning the effort to build a great social alliance.
The support of an independent and cross-party candidate meets the needs of our time. Because an independent candidate can bridge differences, create convergences, synthesize and join forces, cultivate the ground for the necessary excesses. It can effectively deal with the distrust and suspicion with which a section of society treats parties and the political system. It can inspire optimism and creativity again.
From the beginning of our effort to build partnerships, we have been looking for an independent candidate who meets specific specifications. A candidate who shares with us the need for progressive change in the place. A change that starts from the solution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality, as defined by the relevant United Nations resolutions. A change that has a strong social sign, puts at the center of policies, the man and his reasonable needs. To serve the well-meaning interests of the many and not the few, the privileged, the elite and the established as has been the case in recent years.
We looked for and talked about an independent candidate who has proven to have management and governance experience. To be an in-depth knower of the Cyprus problem and convinced that without a solution and reunification of the place our people have no future. Have knowledge of domestic and international politics and economics. To have social sensitivity, because in the difficult world we live in, the first thing that needs to be there is sensitivity to the worries and problems of the world, much of which suffers from the precision and the rally of rising prices for basic goods.
We were looking for a candidate with important relations in the international political arena, in order to restore the eroded prestige of our country.
We were looking for a candidate who, despite being independent, has a history of cooperation with the political forces. A candidate over whom no shadow hangs, to be honest and clean.
We looked for and discussed a candidate who can confidently and convincingly address the wider society and succeed the coordination of efforts, the mobilization of forces to open a new page for our Cyprus.
Following our procedures, discussing both at the level of leadership and at the level of the base, we came up with the proposal for Andreas Mavrogiannis. A renowned diplomat who for years successfully serves Cyprus and our people from various important positions.
We are convinced that Andreas Mavrogiannis meets the standards we have set.
We are convinced that Andreas Mavrogiannis can lead and express the effort to achieve progressive change.
We are convinced that Andreas Mavrogiannis is a winning choice .
We are convinced that in the person of Andreas Mavrogiannis our country can once again move with confidence towards the future.
Today, we complete the our processes and we make our decisions. From today we roll up our sleeves and start working.
So that we can look at our young people in detail.
For our Cyprus and the people us.
Together we will fight for change. “
