Cyprus’s main opposition party AKEL has accused President Nikos Christodoulides of using state appointments to build a loyal inner circle ahead of the 2028 presidential elections. The controversy erupted after the Public Service Commission announced four new appointments to the top civil service posts of Permanent Secretaries in government ministries.

The four appointees — Anna Aristotelous, George Papageorgiou, Kyriakos Iordanous, and Penelope Papavassiliou — are all figures linked to the president’s wider circle of influence. Aristotelous, the former director of the Central Prisons, currently heads the Office for Humanitarian Affairs for Missing and Enclaved Persons and is reportedly under investigation by the Legal Service. Papageorgiou is the husband of Deputy Minister to the President, Eirini Piki, while Papavassiliou serves as the Secretary to the Council of Ministers. Iordanous currently leads the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC).

In a strongly worded statement, AKEL claimed the appointments confirm Christodoulides’s intent to consolidate his political base ahead of the next presidential race. The party accused him of betraying his own campaign pledges for “meritocracy and a new political ethos,” arguing the moves expose “the most outdated form of political patronage.”

“These appointments — even of individuals under legal investigation — reflect a carousel of cronyism, exchanging favors among friends, associates, and courtiers that perpetuate the clientelist state and erode meritocracy,” the party said, adding that such practices “disappoint even Christodoulides’s staunchest supporters and keep the country trapped in stagnation.”

Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis dismissed the accusations, asserting that the appointments resulted from an independent and transparent PSC process. “These procedures are exhaustive and precise, with strict criteria designed to eliminate any doubt of bias,” he said.

Letymbiotis went further, suggesting AKEL was “judging others by its own standards,” alluding to the party’s record during its 2008–2013 administration under former President Demetris Christofias. “We are still paying over €1 billion this year for the consequences of AKEL’s governance,” he said, linking past “populist and clientelist” policies to the island’s financial woes.

The spokesman also highlighted the Cabinet’s recent approval of the tax reform bill, positioning it as an example of the Christodoulides government’s focus on “relieving the burden on the middle class and small businesses” — a contrast, he argued, to AKEL’s past mismanagement.

Letymbiotis concluded that the administration remains “fully committed to implementing the President’s governance program effectively and responsibly, in full accountability to the Cypriot people.”