Lyssarides to bow out

KISOS leader Vassos Lyssarides, the man who founded the Cypriot socialist party 40 years ago, is to step down under mounting pressure from senior party members who blame him for the party's poor showing in Sunday's Parliamentary elections.

The party has been in crisis since it earned a mere 6.5 per cent of the vote in Sunday's elections, compared to 8.1 per cent in 1996.

Two senior members of KISOS, Party Secretary Dinos Mihail and Communications Secretary Pandis Papaloizou have already resigned over the party's losses.

Failed KISOS candidates Takis Hadjidemetriou, Elias Myrianthous and Larkos Larkou yesterday called on 82-year-old Lyssarides to stand down saying he bore a big share of responsibility for the party's dismal showing.

KISOS vice-chairman Marinos Sizopoulos and Acting-chairman Yiannakis Omirou both called for an urgent party conference "to make big steps and move on."

With pressure mounting, Lyssarides finally announced yesterday afternoon that he would not seek re-election as the party's chairman at the KISOS electoral conference, due to take place next month.

Lyssarides said he had taken his decision long ago and vowed to continue offering his services to KISOS, "as the party and socialism are the only children I ever had."

The KISOS leader appeared disappointed at party colleagues' call for his resignation.

The KISOS political bureau is today holding a meeting to address the latest developments.

Hadjidemetriou yesterday began work on efforts to pick up the pieces and help the party recover.

It emerged yesterday that Hadjidemetriou, a former Vice-chairman of KISOS and deputy for the last 25 years, had not made it into Parliament despite garnering more preference votes than any other KISOS candidate. But the 67-year-old Nicosia candidate lost his seat to Lyssarides, who was automatically elected without needing preference votes, taking the only seat that KISOS retained in the capital.

Just hours after learning he had not been re-elected, Hadjidemetriou called a news conference to make suggestions on how KISOS could regain its lost prestige.

"Ten years ago we had 11 per cent of the vote and now we have 6.5 per cent. This is a catastrophe. We have made mistakes but we must fight on in the name of socialism," he said.

Hadjidemetriou admitted that the political principles and aims of the party lost their focus when it changed its name from socialist EDEK to Social Democratic Party KISOS 18 months ago.

"We have failed to put forward concrete ideas regarding the burning issues," Hadjidemetriou admitted.

"It is time that the party's historic founder Lyssarides takes the necessary steps so that we have a new leader," Hadjidemetriou suggested.

"He should step down soon and in dignity."

The former deputy said the party needed to have a new chairman from what he called "the second generation, people of my age" to go through the tough period ahead, and then move on to a younger leader.

Hadjidemetriou said he would be willing to stand if his name was put forward, but did not mind if it was someone else and not him.

"I think what we must do now is undertake reforms and draw up policies to make our current and former followers proud again and give all who believe in socialism a cause to fight for."

The veteran deputy put the party's problems partly down to the fact

that "it did not play its cards right in the Presidential elections in 1998, when it supported the candidacy of Glafcos Clerides in the second round.

"The party had a pivotal role to play in the week between the first and the second Sundays (between the two rounds of voting). However, the leadership of the party remained apathetic and did not call on its faithful to support one of the two candidates. That must not be repeated," Hadjidemetriou charged.

"If you ask me, I think it was a mistake that we joined, even for a short time, a government coalition with DISY at that time and I don't want the same thing to happen again," he clarified.