Cyprus’ right-leaning wing made gains in Sunday, 24 May ’26’s parliamentary election. The election results indicated that anti-corruption newcomers and social media influencers also captured seats. Analysts predict that these results may reshape the island’s political landscape.
A little over half a million Cypriots participated in the polls on Sunday, 24 May, to elect 56 lawmakers. This election was perceived as a litmus test for trends ahead of the next presidential elections scheduled in another 2 years in ’28.
Key parties supporting incumbent president Nico Christodoulides, considered a centrist, ran as an independent in the last presidential election, held 3 years back in ’23. Centrists were among the biggest losers of the election results broadcast on Sunday evening, 24 May.
The Interior Ministry released the results of Sunday’s poll, reflecting the right-leaning ELAM. The party is an offshoot of Greece’s banned Golden Dawn party. ELAM amounted to about 11% of the vote. This reflected a surge from the previous 6.8% secured in the last legislative elections 5 years back in ’21. This placed ELAM as the third-largest party in the legislature.
It was behind the right-leaning DISY & Communist-leaning AKEL parties. They respectively polled 27.2% & 23.8% of the votes. The results reflected a slight decline for DISY and a slight increase for AKEL.
Whilst executive power in Cyprus rests with the presidency, the losses among Christodoulides’ allies may signal that he may need to form a new alliance to get re-elected in ’28.
3 centrist parties backing Christodoulides – DIKO, DIPA & EDEK – suffered losses this time. EDEK, a socialist party prominent in Cypriot politics. This pattern has been the case since its establishment over 5 decades ago, in ’69. Both EDEK & Dipa failed to gain the minimum 3.6% threshold to enter parliament.
The 3 centrist parties backing Christodoulides’ allies signal that he may need to form new alliances if needing to be re-elected in ’28.
