VZCZCXRO5288
RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHNC #0803/01 2761152
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031152Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8214
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0961

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000803 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL UNFICYP CY TU
SUBJECT: ELECTIONS:  CITING FRONT-RUNNERS' FLAWS, LONG SHOT 
REFUSES TO BOW OUT 
 
REF: NICOSIA 459 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald L. Schlicher, Reasons 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: Despite trailing Cyprus's "serious" 
presidential candidates by significant margins, outsider 
Costas Themistocleous voices no intention of abandoning his 
electoral campaign anytime soon.  Recent polling shows 
Themistocleous's three rivals each tallying between 29 and 31 
percent; in this scenario, his own one percent might well 
represent the difference between them advancing to the second 
round or going home early.  A reluctant ally or kingmaker, 
however, he argues that neither of RoC President Tassos 
Papadopoulos's main challengers deserves his endorsement, 
since both lack the backbone to defend the 2004 Annan Plan, 
the "best solution yet devised to re-unify the island," and 
were unwilling to bury ideological differences in support of 
a joint candidate.  Should today's near dead-heat conditions 
continue until December or January, however, Themistocleous 
will feel greater pressure from pro-solution forces within 
the Christofias and Kasoulides camps to work a deal.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Even a Sliver Might Make the Difference 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) In April, former Agriculture Minister (1998-2003) 
Costas Themistocleous announced his decision to stand in the 
2008 presidential election (Reftel).  Rather than distance 
himself from the intensely unpopular Annan Plan, as most all 
of its proponents have done of late, Themistocleous continues 
to extol its virtues.  He announced his electoral ambitions 
on April 24, exactly three years after Greek Cypriots buried 
the Plan in a referendum, and has based his campaign on 
reviving the UN initiative.  His reward for playing the 
gadfly?  Polling numbers that hover around one percent, well 
behind the leaders.  Even a groundswell of support might only 
raise his numbers to two percent, Themistocleous had told us 
earlier; he understood his ability to shape the presidential 
debate or affect its outcome was minuscule. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) That conversation occurred in June, however, when 
analysts were predicting a runaway Papadopoulos win in a 
two-way race against DISY-supported challenger Ioannis 
Kasoulides.  With the July breakup of the governing coalition 
and subsequent emergence of AKEL Secretary General Dimitris 
Christofias as a contender, however, the race has turned 
tight; thousands or even hundreds of votes may determine who 
advances to the second round.  Themistocleous's expected haul 
of 4,000-odd votes suddenly appears significant, leaving 
pundits and Embassy contacts speculating whether he 
eventually intends to withdraw from the race and urge his 
flock to support one of Papadopoulos's challengers. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Principles Trump Politics...For Now 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Cyprus's 2008 election represents a watershed event, 
Themistocleous told Embassy staff in September.  Should Greek 
Cypriot voters re-elect their hard-line president, he doubted 
the island's two communities would reach a settlement that 
reunified the island, leaving only the status quo or a 
negotiated partition, both unacceptable end-states. 
Papadopoulos must go, he insisted (a point he repeated in a 
late-September televised debate, which Papadopoulos campaign 
coordinator and former Foreign Minister Yiorgos Lillikas 
parried by expressing mock gratitude -- "you don't know how 
much you're helping us," the ex-FM quipped.) 
 
¶5.  (C) Nevertheless, it was not Themistocleous's 
responsibility to spur the incumbent's downfall, he argued. 
His 1-2 percent support was holding steady, and with 
Christofias's unexpected candidacy having tightened the race, 
he acknowledged the others were eyeing his haul hungrily. 
Yet the long shot had no intention of abandoning the race and 
endorsing the AKEL or DISY contender, even if it meant 
Papadopoulos advancing to the second round and eventually 
winning a second term in office. 
 
¶6.  (C) A successful Cyprus solution depended on close 
cooperation between Cyprus's largest parties, Themistocleous 
contended.  Yet AKEL and DISY, despite each seeking to defeat 
Papadopoulos -- essential for bringing about fruitful 
inter-communal negotiations -- had proven incapable of 
identifying a candidate palatable to both.  AKEL deserved the 
lion's share of blame, he thought, since DISY repeatedly had 
 
NICOSIA 00000803  002 OF 002 
 
 
stated its interest in combining forces.  Further, in pushing 
Papadopoulos to promise to support AKEL in the event he did 
not advance to the second round, Christofias had shown that 
personal and/or party electoral ambitions figured higher on 
his agenda than reunifying the island.  Over fifteen years, 
Themistocleous argued, the AKEL commissar's positions had 
hardened -- how else to explain Christofias's choice to join 
an alliance with Papadopoulos? 
 
¶7.  (C) Kasoulides and DISY merited scorn as well.  While the 
right-wing candidate had supported the Annan Plan in 2004, 
Themistocleous revealed, in 2007, to boost his electoral 
chances, he was disparaging the UN initiative in ways similar 
to Christofias or Papadopoulos.  In sum, neither "serious" 
challenger deserved his one percent, those Greek Cypriots who 
understood that a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation as 
stipulated by Annan represented Cyprus's best hope for 
workable governance and a peaceful future. 
 
---------- 
But Later? 
---------- 
 
¶8.  (C) COMMENT:  Although he tarred Papadopoulos, 
Christofias, and Kasoulides with the same anti-solution 
stain, Costas Themistocleous undoubtedly would prefer one of 
the challengers to unseat the incumbent come February.  Yet 
he proclaims no intention to end his campaign and the 
Quixotic quest to revive the Annan Plan.  Should the Big 
Three candidates remain separated by a slim margin well into 
2008, however, pressures on the long shot should spike 
considerably.  One close Embassy contact and prominent Annan 
supporter revealed October 2 that a consortium of NGOs 
planned to lobby Themistocleous to shutter his campaign a 
week before the election.  NGO leaders, who believed the 
long-shot candidate was stealing votes from the Christofias 
camp, were confident he would honor their wishes and bow out, 
helping to ensure that "anybody but Papadopoulos" emerges 
victorious in February. 
SCHLICHER