Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

The municipal elections will be in just 10 days. Limassol has two of the best known politicians fighting for the Mayor position. Who would you vote for? I will vote for Andreas Christou. You should too http://www.andreaschristou.eu/

[cypezokyli]

the two big cities have interesting battles actually.
nicosia has actually 3 very capable contesters.
in limassol the two candidates are also capable.

they will be interesting elections not so much on who is elected , but the political message they will send.

[Sotos]

nicosia has actually 3 very capable contesters.

I don't like the current mayor of Nicosia and until now I never heard of Marangou before. Limassol has bigger names

[twinkle]

My town's better than your town......

[cypezokyli]

nicosia has actually 3 very capable contesters.

I don't like the current mayor of Nicosia and until now I never heard of Marangou before. Limassol has bigger names

with 3 , i ofcource excluded zambelas ..... i thought it was obvious.

mavrou, mesaritis,and maraggou all apear quite capable (the last two make actually more concrete proposals rather than generalities )

ofcource you didnot hear maraggou before. she is not a politician shouting on cypriot tv. she writes almost every week in phileleftheros (now more often in more newspapers) , and is involved with culture for quite a while now.

[Sotos]

I think the most important thing for a Mayor is to have power and links in the government so he can get funds and support. Without these funds there will be no marinas and other big projects, just maybe fancier carnival parades!

My town's better than your town....

Cyp and I are from the same town. And our town is better than yours twinkle

[Issy1956]

Cyp,
As a matter of interest for those of us with no local knowledge what do the respective candidates stand for and what is the "the political message" their election will send?

[cypezokyli]

Cyp,
As a matter of interest for those of us with no local knowledge what do the respective candidates stand for and what is the "the political message" their election will send?

hi issy.
municipal elections in cyprus are highly irrelevant , because municipalities are completely dependent on the central goverment. most projects will come from the respective ministries and not from the mayor. a really capable mayor , is the one who can fight with the beaurocracy , scream , call 1000 times per day to the respective ministries , and be clever enough to get some EU funds. this whole process might take years .... to achieve one small project...

thats why the political message is what is important. ofcource , usually the results are mixed, so there is hardly any clear political message - everyone understands what suits him to understand....

as you may know , there are currently 3 parties in goverment (akel , diko , edek) and dysi stands alone as the main opposition. the three parties, if one adds up there power should have no problem in any municipality.

akel fought hard to impose its candidates in the two bigger cities (nicosia and limassol). especially the capital , as in all countries carries a symbolic meaning. the two have a characteristic that annoys akels parterns. they were both yes-supporters. akels partners , have polarised the climate so much the last 3 years that i really dont know how they can convince their supporters to vote for those "nainekous" (yes-supporters). so for one , according to the result it might have or have no concequences on the coalition.

the other political message , will come from the "independent" or "rebel" candidates. how well these candiates go (even if they dont win ) , is always a vote of dissatisfaction against the political parties (left or right). or to put it the other way around, it shows by how far the political parties can impose their will on the people , or if the people can think (finally) independatly from political parties.

[Sotos]

I don't think what they supported in the referendum is relevant especially for Limassol. They will deal with the problems of their city and not with the Cyprus problem. They made a wrong judgment on something but they can still be capable people that can help. Personally I like Christou no less because of what he voted in referendum. Everybody can have an opinion there is no problem with that.

[Issy1956]

Cyp,
Thanks for the tutorial. I am interested to know what the feeling of the GC electorate is towards that of the ruling politicians in their approach to the cyprus problem. Do they think that T.pap is doing a good job or do they feel that a wrong turning was taken in expecting the EU to take sides in the problem on their behalf. I just wonder how sentiment has changed since the referendum. I know that in the North the TC have lost some of the optimisum they had at the time of the referendum.