Left-wing ruling party AKEL Political Bureau decided Monday unanimously to suggest Health Minister Stavros Malas as the candidate of the party for February’s presidential elections.
The Political Bureau will present its suggestion before the Central Committee of the party on Wednesday.
The decision taken in the presence of Cyprus President and ex-AKEL leader Demetris Christofias, was announced by AKEL General Secretary Antros Kyprianou.
“The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of AKEL has decided unanimously after thorough discussion to suggest to the Central Committee to support Stavros Malas` candidacy,” Kyprianou said.
Answering to a question Kyprianou said that Malas` candidacy will be the only suggestion of the Political Bureau, saying however that members of the Central Committee have every right to discuss other possible candidacies as well.
Invited to comment on the decision of the Political Bureau, President Christofias
noted that the decision belongs to the party and not to him.
Dr Stavros Malas is the Minister for Health of the Republic of Cyprus. He was educated in the United Kingdom where he obtained a BSc and PhD in Genetics in (1988-1994).
He has worked as a researcher at the Clinical Sciences Centre and Hammersmith Hospital and in 2001 he moved to the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics to set up a research team working on early brain development using genetically modified mice as an experimental model. His main interest is the study of the role of certain transcription factors in cell fate decisions during brain and spinal cord development.
Dr Malas has served as the National Representative in various Committees of the European Commission dealing with policy issues on biomedical research. Specifically, he has served as the National Representative to the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures, the Program Committee for Health and the States Representative Group of the Innovative Medicines Initiative. For the latter has served as the first elected Chair for the period of 2008 to 2010.
In 2008 and 2009 he was appointed as Special Advisor to the previous European Commissioner for Health, Mrs Androula Vasiliou.
Dr Malas has served as advisor to research funding organizations and academic collaborator to the University of Cyprus and University College London.
