British Cypriot businessman John Christodoulou said on Thursday that “my mind is with Disy, but my heart is with Akel” as he kept open the possibility of standing in the 2028 presidential election.

Speaking on Sigma, Christodoulou said the decision was difficult and could be made by early next year.

He said he neither “speaks nor thinks like a politician” and that even close friends had questioned his reasoning for considering giving up his comfortable life.

He cited his experience as a refugee, saying he left Cyprus aged nine and still feels the loss of land that belonged to his parents and grandparents.

He said, “52 years had been lost without a solution and that Turkey must return to the negotiating table”.

“I am a refugee, we need to go back to our homes, we must confront the Turk who stole our land”, he said.

He also conceded within the interview his personal limitations with the Greek language, deferring repeatedly into English and acknowledging a limited vocabulary.

The comments followed an interview on Wednesday with ANT1, in which he said he could not accept that no decision had been reached in over five decades of seeking to solve the Cyprus problem.

Christodoulou confirmed his close personal relationship with Direct Democracy leader Fidias Panayiotou but said he was also in discussions with figures from other parties.

Local media reported that Panayiotou had raised his name with party leaders, including Akel, and received no answer.

Akel secretary general Stefanos Stefanou played down speculation that the party was sounding out candidates.

Direct Democracy is also reportedly in talks with Odysseas Michaelides’ Alma party in regard to a joint candidate.

Christodoulou owns Yianis Group, which holds hotels and flats in Canary Wharf and elsewhere in Britain.

The Sunday Times Rich List 2026 puts his wealth at £2.7 billion.

In Cyprus he is active mainly through the Yianis Christodoulou Foundation, and in 2021 he was reported to be close to a £30 million takeover of Omonia football club, but talks with majority owner Stavros Papastavrou reportedly collapsed.

His British business affairs have drawn scrutiny, for in 2012 hotel companies in the group went into administration, costing him a Manchester Marriott and a Park Inn near Heathrow.

In 2022 he reportedly admitted to a tribunal that residents at 1 West India Quay had been overcharged by 26 per cent on utilities.

In March 2024 the UK government began legal action seeking £20.5 million from his companies towards fixing unsafe blocks at Canary Riverside.

Akel’s central aim in the 2028 presidential election is “progressive change” delivered by a united effort of forces, secretary-general Stefanos Stefanou said on Wednesday.

Speaking in Nicosia at the presentation of the book “Studies on the History of the Left in Cyprus”, Stefanou said the change must rest on “a common progressive programme” and end in victory at the polls.

“Experience had shown that in a world dominated by the institutions, policies and power of big capital, a left-wing government faces great challenges and dilemmas”, he said.

Stefanou said Akel’s ability to shape a political agenda with broader goals was “the objective basis of collaborations”.

He recalled earlier alliances, among them the United Front of Workers and Employees of Limassol in 1943 and the National Liberation Coalition, which operated from 1948 to 1953.

He traced the party’s relationship with power to 1962, when its 10th Congress decided to give Archbishop Makarios critical support.

Akel claimed no part in government and set no conditions beyond “the defence of Cypriot independence”.

It later made agreement on a programme for governance a condition of backing any candidate, he said, as with the Minimum Programme of 1983 in support of Spyros Kyprianou and again in 1988 with Giorgos Vassiliou.

The next stage was Akel’s entry into a governing coalition, with its own cadres serving in the government of Tassos Papadopoulos.

Stefanou said the left wing “must listen to the needs of society, firmly defend workers, democracy, peace and other universal values, join forces and transform demands into collective action”.