National Socialist EDEK party leader under attack from within his own party

Greek Cypriot National socialist EDEK party leader Marinos Sizopoulos was left with another blow to his party on Tuesday as yet another party member resigned, bringing the tally up to three since Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Paphos candidate Andreas Petrides, who failed to get a seat expressed his thanks to his supporters both from within the party and the public but said he had been feeling like an outsider in EDEK due to several practices the party had exercised.
He cited “for instance, vengeful behaviour from the previous leadership, particularly during the sensitive election period, which seriously undermined our political discourse.”
The two had cited the low percentage of votes their party received in the elections.
EDEK’s loss of two seats in parliament was attributed to the leadership by outgoing Limassol MP Nicos Nicolaides who issued his own condemning statement.
The party suffered “its greatest ever loss in elections since its founding” he said and it was clear people were not happy with the “new EDEK” they’ve been seeing as of late.
“Instead of acting as a leader should, with courage and humility, admit his enormous responsibilities, EDEK’s chairman is trying, like a student caught being naughty to blame others,” Nicolaides said.

The outgoing MP put the loss down to a series of mistakes such as EDEK’s rejectionist stance on the Cyprus problem and attempts to focus on how it is named rather than the content, rejecting anything with the term ‘bi-zonal, bi-communal federation’.
Additionally, Sizopoulos’ handling of the national council minutes, his clash with European and international socialist groups and association with extreme socialist parties, pushed people away from the party, Nicolaides charged.