A cabinet reshuffle is “a constitutional right held by the president of the Republic”, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Monday amid ongoing rumours that President Nikos Christodoulides will make such a move in the autumn.

“The president judges the members of his cabinet on a daily basis, as we are judged by society, and, whenever he decides that the time is right, he will make announcements,” he said.

He then added that there is “nothing at the moment” to announce.

Rumours have abounded of a potential reshuffle in recent weeks, following the wildfire which tore through the Limassol district and killed two people last month.

In particular, many commentators have suggested that Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis and Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou could lose their jobs, with both having been on the end of fierce criticism for comments which were perceived as insensitive in the midst of the fires.

Hartsiotis had said that “we had absolutely no loss of life” in the wildfire, except for the two people who did die, while Panayiotou had said that “the only way we could have prevented the fire was for it not to have started”.

Both Hartsiotis and Panayiotou had been appointed to their current roles in the reshuffle which took place in January last year, with Panayiotou being promoted from her previous position of environment commissioner and Hartsiotis an outside appointment.

Earlier this month, newspaper Politis had reported that Christodoulides had planned a reshuffle in advance of the fire, with that reshuffle having been intended for after the next parliamentary elections, which are set for next May.

However, the newspaper said, the fire and the surrounding crisis and ministerial missteps have brought those plans forward.

It added that during a meeting of Christodoulides and government-supporting parties Diko, Edek, and Dipa, he came under pressure to take swift action.

In response, he reportedly said that August “is a holiday month” and that a reshuffle would happen soon after the end of the month.