Disy has questioned why Akel does not intend to field its own candidate in the 2028 presidential election, in a statement issued on Sunday in response to criticism from Akel secretary-general Stefanos Stefanou.

“Why doesn’t it dare to contest with its own candidate?” the party asked, arguing that Akel’s claim to “represent society sat uneasily with its decision to stay out of the race”.

It asked whether the party was “implicitly admitting that what they continue to serve to society has been tried and failed”.

The statement followed Stefanou’s address to Akel’s central committee on Saturday, where he set out seven priorities for what he called “progressive change”.

He declared that “Christodoulides and Disy must leave power so that society can breathe”.

He criticised the governments of former president Nicos Anastasiades and President Nikos Christodoulides, and blamed the 2013 bank deposit haircut for devastating households and small businesses.

Disy said Akel was seeking power again despite its record in government, claiming that under Akel’s rule Cyprus was shut out of international markets and suffered a deep economic crisis, unemployment, business closures and poverty.

It said the economy recovered only after “enormous sacrifices” made by the public, difficult decisions and ten years of continuous effort, leaving the country in 2023 with growth, fiscal stability and restored international credibility.

The party said only a Disy government could leave behind the “incoherence, sloppiness, audacity and inefficiency” of the Christodoulides administration while avoiding what it described as “destructive left-wing experimentation”.