It is astonishing that President Nikos Christodoulides postponed a cabinet meeting on Wednesday to make time to see the backer of his government and Diko chief Nicholas Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos had written to him on Tuesday night demanding a meeting, at the president’s “earliest convenience,” in order the discuss the possibility of a cabinet reshuffle as well as Diko’s proposed appointments to the boards of the semi-governmental organisations, the terms of which will expire by the end of the year.

Was a new distribution of the spoils of power of such great urgency and importance the president found it necessary to cancel Wednesday’s cabinet meeting at the last minute? It appears it was as Wednesday’s meeting, reportedly, lasted two-and-a-half hours. Whether they took any decisions about who will be the chair of Cyta, the EAC or the Ports Authority is not known; nor was there any clue about the cabinet reshuffle.

Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis defended the president’s decision on Thursday, saying he had meetings with the parties supporting the government “at regular intervals and this should not cause surprise.” This was the fourth such meeting since the parliamentary elections at the end of May, he said. Diko was a “key partner of the government” and “contributes to a large extent, to the implementation of the government work.”

This was one way looking at it. Another is that Papadopoulos was engaging in a bit of political muscle-flexing and publicly reminding the president of his dependence on Diko, especially with the presidential elections less than two years away. The other two parties backing the government, Edek and Dipa, failed to win a single seat between them in the parliamentary elections and their combined share of the vote is half that of Diko. This underlines the growing importance of Diko for Christodoulides, who has no choice but to pander to Papadopoulos and even call off council of ministers’ meetings when the Diko chief demands it.

For three-and-a-half years of his presidency, Christodoulides kept a healthy distance from the parties backing him, but the Diko chief will not allow him to carry on playing this game. This was why his letter, demanding a meeting with the president the next day, was leaked to the press. It was an illustration of his new assertiveness, stemming from the president’s increased dependence on Diko, without which his re-election would be impossible.

How Papadopoulos will use this new-found power and his increased influence over the president remains to be seen, although in our political system all the power belongs to the president. Papadopoulos may get another ministerial post for Diko and few more seats on SGOs for his supporters but influence-peddling is as far as he will go.