{"id":454670,"date":"2026-05-25T14:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/05\/25\/elezioni-a-cipro-i-partiti-tradizionali-galleggiano-mentre-lestrema-destra-continua-a-crescere\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T15:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T13:24:59","slug":"cyprus-parliamentary-vote-traditional-parties-tread-water-far-right-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/25\/cyprus-parliamentary-vote-traditional-parties-tread-water-far-right-on-the-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyprus parliamentary vote: traditional parties tread water, far right on the rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The precarious position of the traditional parties, the rise of anti-establishment forces \u2013 often (though not always) of the far right \u2013 and an increasingly fragmented party system<\/strong>. This is the picture that emerges from the final results of the parliamentary elections in Cyprus<\/strong>, held yesterday (24 May). These trends are now common to many European Union countries, but in the case of the eastern Mediterranean island, they take on an even more significant, and symbolic, symboli value: Nicosia holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU<\/a> until 30 June, and every political development at home has the potential to influence the choices the country is called upon to make in Brussels.<\/p>\n

The stagnation of the traditional parties<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Of the 12 parties standing in yesterday\u2019s election, none came close to reaching the  29-seat threshold<\/strong><\/strong> required to secure an absolute majority in the Cypriot Parliament. Formally, there are 80 seats available, but since 1963, only 56 have been allocated due to the Turkish minority\u2019s refusal to participate in the country\u2019s political life, thus leaving vacant the 24 seats to which they would be entitled.<\/p>\n

For the fourth consecutive time since 2011, the Democratic Rally (DISY)<\/strong> won the most votes. With 27.2 per cent of the vote, the centre-right party \u2013 a member of the European People\u2019s Party (EPP) family \u2013 managed to retain all 17 seats<\/strong> it won in the previous elections in 2021, but has nevertheless suffered a slight drop in popularity<\/strong>: it lost 0.8 per cent of the preferences compared to five years ago.<\/p>\n

A stalemate that is essentially similar to that of Cyprus\u2019s other major political family, the Progressive Party of Working People<\/strong> (AKEL). Like its historic rival, the communist-oriented party \u2013 whose MEPs are part of The Left group in Strasbourg \u2013 retained control of the 15 seats it won in 2021<\/strong>. In this case, however, the slight change in the percentage of votes translates into a positive outcome: AKEL won 23.9 per cent of the vote, an increase of 1.4 per cent compared to five years ago<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The third traditional party to retain its seat in Parliament is the Democratic Party<\/strong> (DIKO), which is liberal socialist in orientation. However, with 10 per cent of the vote, DIKO lost one seat compared to 2021<\/strong> and ended up with eight.<\/p>\n

The rise of the far right and anti-establishment forces<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While the political forces representing the so-called \u2018establishment<\/em>\u2019 are trying to hold their ground, the advance of the parties belonging to the diverse anti-establishment<\/strong> movement continues at a much faster pace.<\/p>\n

Above all, the party that recorded the most significant growth is the National Popular Front<\/strong> (ELAM), a far-right party belonging to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. ELAM \u2013 whose roots lie with the neo-Nazis of Golden Dawn<\/strong>, a Greek movement officially designated a criminal organisation by the Athens courts in 2020<\/a> \u2013 won 10.9 per cent of the total vote, doubling its number of seats from 4 to 8<\/strong> and achieving the best result in its electoral history. Throughout this campaign, the party led by Christos Christou<\/strong> focused primarily on two issues, particularly sensitive to a section of the Cypriot electorate: immigration<\/strong> and the assertion of the island\u2019s exclusively Greek identity<\/strong>, showing itself to be particularly hostile towards Turkish authorities who have controlled the northern part of Cyprus since 1974<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis result shows that conservative forces defending security, responsibility and national interests continue to receive support across Europe,\u201d said Polish MEP and ECR co-spokesperson Patryk Jaki<\/strong> in an immediate reaction. His Italian colleague Nicola Procaccini<\/strong> shared this view, emphasising that \u201cthe conservative family continues to grow across Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

ELAM is not the only novelty to have surfaced in Nicosia\u2019s political landscape after yesterday\u2019s vote. For the first time, two new political forces will enter Parliament,<\/strong> both expressing the same anti\u2011establishment sentiment that characterises ELAM, yet without any far\u2011right ideological profile. These are Citizens for Cyprus<\/strong> (ALMA) \u2014 a centrist party founded by former audit\u2011court judge and anti\u2011corruption \u201chero\u201d Odysseas Michaelides<\/strong> \u2014 and Direct Democracy<\/strong> (ADK), the personal vehicle of MEP and YouTuber Fidias Panayiotou<\/strong>. With 5.8% and 5.4% of the total vote, respectively, the two newcomers secured four seats each.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Christodoulides fails the pre-2028 test<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The government system established by the Cypriot Constitution is presidential in nature:<\/strong> the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides<\/strong>, serves as both Head of State and Head of Government and is not bound by any vote of confidence in Parliament. However, the consent of the legislature remains necessary for the adoption of any measure<\/strong>, from ordinary laws to the budget, including constitutional reforms. For this reason, yesterday\u2019s vote was seen as a sort of mid-term test for Christodoulides<\/strong>, and the outcome was largely negative.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even during the previous parliamentary term, Christodoulides was backed by a minority coalition comprising various liberal-socialist parties, and was regularly forced to seek “outside support” from DISY (the party to which he belonged until 2023, when he was expelled for deciding to challenge the party\u2019s official presidential candidate<\/a>) to get his bills passed. With yesterday\u2019s vote, the pro-government bloc’s numbers<\/strong> have shrunk further<\/strong>: DIKO is the only party to have returned to Parliament, while the Socialist Party, the Greens, and the liberals of Democratic Alignment failed to clear the electoral threshold. Doing the maths, the government will be able to count on the support of 8 MPs out of 56<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Christodoulides\u2019 position \u2013 and his room for manoeuvre \u2013 therefore risks being severely weakened by the mid-term vote, and this time, even the support of DISY\u2019s friends-turned-foes might not be enough. Although the party leader, Annita Demetriou<\/strong>, delivered an open-to-dialogue victory speech<\/a>, stressing the need to forge \u201cagreements to implement reforms that deliver results,\u201d the numbers are stark: even with DISY\u2019s support, only 25 MPs would be willing to vote for the government\u2019s measures<\/strong>, four short of an absolute majority.<\/p>\n

For the current President of the EU Council, the concerns do not end there. In addition to the day-to-day running of government affairs \u2013 which may require him to reach out to at least one of the anti-establishment parties \u2013 Christodoulides will also have to reassess his position ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in 2028<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

With the liberal\u2011socialist support base weakened, the question now is where the country\u2019s leader will turn<\/strong>. If Demetriou\u2019s personal ambitions make a last-minute rapprochement <\/em>with DISY unlikely, is a dramatic shift towards the far-right ELAM<\/strong> conceivable?<\/p>\n

According to Manfred Weber<\/strong>, the leader of the EPP to which the Cypriot president belongs, albeit no longer formally, this is an option that must be categorically ruled out.<\/strong> But ever since his dramatic election in 2023, Christodoulides has repeatedly shown himself capable of unthinkable political manoeuvres<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The election to renew the island\u2019s parliament has left the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, severely weakened: only one of the parties that supported him managed to win seats. His re-election in 2028 is now in jeopardy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":454645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[27194,34216,31234],"class_list":["post-454670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-cipro-en","tag-elezioni-cipro","tag-nikos-christodoulides-and"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454671,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454670\/revisions\/454671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}