Direct Democracy Cyprus leader Fidias Panayiotou on Friday moved to justify his party’s decision to vote for Disy leader Annita Demetriou as House president, declaring that his party’s “philosophy” is “not to be throwing eggs and rocks at the wall”.

“’Fidias, why did you vote for Annita?’ They have been driving me nuts with messages and they were asking me at the gym … and I will answer. For us, our philosophy is not to be throwing eggs and rocks at the wall from outside, like the opposition parties do,” he said in a televised interview which he posted to his social media accounts.

He added that “I threw eggs and rocks before as a member of the European Parliament and I was not being listened to”, and that as such, “now, we have got in[to parliament], and we want to work together to solve society’s problems”.

“Direct Democracy Cyprus, as a party, had a dilemma, and it had the power in its hands, so with the election, as the results were, and the fact that the parties had isolated themselves, because they said, ‘I will note vote for this candidate or that candidate’, and only Direct Democracy Cyprus said it would work together with everyone,” he said.

As such, he said, his party had effectively become kingmaker, and “there were only two candidates who could possibly have been elected” – Demetriou and Diko leader Nicholas Papadopoulos.

“We saw all the parties and we sat together to discuss. We told them three things. These suggestions of ours, which are important and which were our election campaign, which was based on these suggestions, so as to solve society’s problems,” he said.

He said that if he had chosen to side with Papadopoulos, his party’s votes, combined with those of Diko and Elam, would have seen Papadopoulos secure passage to the election’s second round, and that likewise, the votes of his party and Disy would see Demetriou safely into the second round.

With the three policies he had suggested as his price, he said he had also demanded “a public video with me to say that you will do those things”, with both Demetriou and Papadopoulos agreeing to film videos.

“We chose Disy for one large reason – because the electorate spoke at the elections which happened recently, it decided that Disy would be the first party, so the electorate chose Annita and Disy to be first, and now, you will wait and we will see if those things are implemented,” he said.

He said that he had “created a video with Annita in which we say those things”.

“That is our aim, and that is what we said from the start. We want to work together to solve society’s problems, not to look clever or to be the opposition. When needed, we will be the opposition, but right now, we had the power in our hands and we took advantage of it,” he said.

In spite of that, he said, “now, some may tell us, ‘Annita will take the Michael out of you’ and ‘Disy will not do what you said’”, and that “this is a possible scenario” , but that “those promises are there and people will see that they will not be keeping their promises”.

He had earlier published a video with Demetriou, which began with Demetriou thanking him “for the support, for the collaboration, and for the vote of confidence”.

“We are here for everything which people expect from us,” she said, before they both then began explaining the three policies to which she had agreed so as to secure his support.

Panayiotou explained that he wished for mothers to be paid €5,000 for their first child,  €10,000 for their second child, and €15,000 for every subsequent child, with Demetriou saying that “if we look at it holistically, my Fidias, it is feasible, and we in Disy say that we can even exceed those figures”.

Regarding pensioners, Demetriou said that “it is time to support our pensioners, especially those receiving low or medium-sized pensions”, and that as such, “for those who contributed to the social insurance fund, €1,088 [per month] must be a right and we can succeed there”.

The third and final policy entails plans to build 10,000 new homes, with Demetriou saying that it is “feasible” and that “of course, it must happen in a short period of time, in three or four years”.

“Of course, I want to be honest, that we analysed and discussed other issues … such as education and the controversial matter of foreclosures, where we agree that those who are actually facing difficulties, and where there is actual need, the state is obliged to support them and we will insist on that,” she said.

Panayiotou then drew the video to a close by saying that “we are ready to work together for the good of Cypriots”, with Demetriou interjecting that “this is our aim in the House of representatives, to build bridges and to do whatever we can for the best of every individual”

Later in the day, Papadopoulos denied that he had also filmed a video with Panayiotou, saying that Panayiotou had instead demanded to film a video with President Nikos Christodoulides, and that this was “something that, naturally, neither I nor he accepted”.