Fidias Panayiotou details negotiations regarding house speaker election

Fidias Panayiotou, leader of the Amesi Dimokratia (Direct Democracy) party, recently released a video detailing the negotiations that took place before the parliamentary vote for the Speaker of the House on June 4, 2026. Panayiotou stated that his party held discussions with several parliamentary groups to leverage their position as a decisive factor. He claimed that ELAM president Christos Christou had assured him that if Amesi Dimokratia supported the DIKO candidate, Nikolas Papadopoulos, ELAM would also provide its support. This alignment could have potentially excluded Annita Dimitriou from the second round of voting. Panayiotou explained that he ultimately chose to support Annita Dimitriou of DISY, claiming that DISY agreed to his party's political demands to avoid the risk of losing the speakership. He noted that he viewed an alliance with DIKO and ELAM as a viable alternative, but decided that supporting DISY provided a better opportunity to push for his proposed policy changes. Panayiotou dismissed the possibility of electing an AKEL candidate, arguing that DISY and DIKO would have likely joined forces in a second round of voting. He acknowledged criticisms regarding the feasibility of the proposed agreements but maintained that collaborating with DISY serves as a mechanism to influence political outcomes.