NICOSIA: Cyprus’s far right made gains in Sunday’s election while anti-corruption newcomers and social media influencers entered parliament, results showed, in a vote analysts said would reshape the island’s political landscape.
Just over half a million Cypriots went to the polls on Sunday to elect 56 lawmakers - an election seen as a litmus test for trends ahead of presidential elections in two years’ time.
Key backers of incumbent President Nicos Christodoulides, a centrist, were among the biggest losers of the evening.
With most of the votes from Sunday’s poll counted, results released by the Interior Ministry showed far-right ELAM, an offshoot of Greece’s banned Golden Dawn party, with about 11 per cent of the vote, up from 6.8 per cent in the last legislative elections in 2021, placing it as the third-largest party in the legislature.
It was behind right-wing DISY and Communist AKEL parties which polled 27.2 per cent and 23.8 per cent of the vote, respectively, with a small increase for AKEL and a small decline for DISY.
While executive power rests in Cyprus with the presidency, the vote and the loss of political allies could flag the new alliances centrist Christodoulides may need if he wants to be re-elected in 2028.
Three centrist parties backing Christodoulides — Diko, Dipa and EDEK — suffered losses. EDEK, a Socialist party particularly prominent in Cypriot politics since its establishment in 1969, failed to reach the 3.6% threshold to enter parliament. Dipa also failed to pass the threshold.
