Former Health Minister of Cyprus Stavros Malas officially announced on Saturday his candidacy for the 2018 presidential elections, backed by the main opposition left-wing party AKEL.
In a special event, held in the capital Nicosia, Malas said he is running for the elections as an independent candidate.
“Μy vision is a future of open horizons for everyone and especially for the younger generation,” he noted.
He added that his plan is for a progressive administration, pointing out that “a real and creative change is imperative for Cyprus.”
Malas said that the current President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, has been unreliable.
He also said that his cooperation with AKEL will be fruitful and productive.
The presidential candidate acknowledged that the economy has returned to positive growth rates, but questioned whether the benefits of the recovery are channelled to society as a whole and whether it stands on solid foundations.
The reality, he continued, is that social inequality has become greater, the country`s GDP in real numbers is lower and the real number of unemployed people is higher than in 2012.
Malas noted that “the primary concern of the new government must be on the one hand to manage the ongoing effects of the crisis and, on the other, to create the conditions for growth and prosperity for all”, adding that “without reuniting our country, the conditions for sustainable growth to withstand the shock of a new crisis cannot be created”.
According to presidential candidate there is no room for Cyprus to follow past practices, “but we can reassess the redistribution of resources within a disciplined financial framework”.
In education, he stated his intention to establish an Independent Education Institute that will be responsible to draw up timetables, curriculum and admission criteria for all academic institutions.
Malas further stressed that a country`s foreign policy must be linked to its economic policy and stated that he will appoint a presidential envoy with the mandate to coordinate the strategic partnership of Cyprus with Israel, that will touch on all economic sectors.
On the Cyprus problem, he said that the solution “must be pursued on the basis of the agreed framework, the UN resolutions on Cyprus and the unanimous decisions of the National Council”.
“Our goal should be to reunify our country in the context of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality. We are aware of all the difficulties, including the Turkish intransigence, which is the main cause of not resolving the Cyprus problem” he said.
He noted that “we must take advantage of both the framework of the United Nations Secretary-General recently submitted in Switzerland and of Cyprus’ EU membership”.
Malas said that the discovery of natural gas is another reason why Cyprus must experience conditions of security and stressed that “we should not underestimate the dangers that exist if we reach the stage of trading gas without having solved the Cyprus problem”.
Malas is running for the presidential elections for the second time in a row. In the 2013 presidential elections, also backed by AKEL, he was defeated by the current President Nicos Anastasiades in a runoff election on 24 February, having received 42.52% of the votes.