Paphos council session suspended amid fallout over mayor probe

The plenary session of the Paphos municipal council was suspended on Monday afternoon after a series of absences and withdrawals amid ongoing developments involving mayor Phedonas Phedonos.

The session initially began with 15 of the 25 council members present, before being brought to a halt following the withdrawal of four members of the municipal Akel group.

Earlier, members of the Diko and Edek municipal groups, an Elam municipal councillor, the Anthropini Poli municipal councillor, one of Depa municipal councillors Nikolas Kesidis, and the deputy mayor sent a joint letter to Municipal Secretary Themis Filippides informing him of their absence.

In the letter, they requested the meeting be postponed, citing Monday’s public announcement, “according to which the interior ministry is awaiting an official response from the police, in order to decide on the next institutional steps in relation to the Paphos mayor”.

“Given that a possible decision by the interior ministry is pending under article 113 of the Municipalities Law,” the letter continued, “we request the postponement of today’s meeting, not as a judgment on the merits or disrespect for the presumption of innocence of the mayor, but out of institutional prudence and respect for the process and society, until there is an official and clear position of the state.”

“Our goal is for the plenary to function with complete institutional clarity and without shadows,” it added.

Seven Disy municipal councillors attended the session, while councillor Linos Tsokkas was absent with leave. Also present were Depa councillor Euclides Ambrosiades and Salvation of Paphos Movement municipal councillor Michalis Hadjimitsis.

At the start of the meeting, Phedonos announced that the session would be held behind closed doors due to the tenders board set to be discussed, though he permitted media representatives to take photographs before leaving.

At the beginning of the meeting, Akel had said that, given the ongoing investigation into serious cases against the mayor and the pending possibility of his leave, it was necessary to take a “clear and responsible stance, guided by political ethics, institutional order and the protection of the prestige of the local government”.

They requested the postponement of the meeting to preserve the unity of the municipal council.

When the majority of the council did not accept the postponement, Akel asked the mayor to exclude himself from the meeting until the interior ministry reached a decision. This was refused, prompting Akel to withdraw.

The group also expressed that the council should send a letter to the interior ministry requesting the acceleration of the relevant procedures.

In a relevant announcement, Akel’s Paphos group said that for reasons of political morality and ethics, as well as to protect the institution of the municipal council, it was not institutionally or politically right for the mayor to chair meetings while a criminal investigation is ongoing and the possibility of leave remains.

The party stressed that this position does not constitute a “pre-trial judgment nor a violation of the presumption of innocence, but an act of institutional responsibility, political seriousness and respect for society and democratic institutions”.

In a statement, Anthropini Poli councillor Andreas Gregoriades questioned whether the issue that led to the cancellation of the previous meeting had been resolved, noting that “to date no answer has been given to the relevant question”.

He added that since neither a postponement of the meeting nor a voluntary abstention by the mayor was possible, the “third and only option” was for him not to attend the February 2nd meeting.

Grigoriades said this decision was “an act of political stance and responsibility, aimed at defending transparency, institutional seriousness and respect in the functioning of the municipal council”.