Cyprus’ far right made gains in Sunday’s parliamentary election while anti-corruption newcomers and social media influencers captured seats, results showed, which 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, in an election seen as a litmus test for trends ahead of presidential elections in two years.
Key parties backing incumbent President Nicos Christodoulides, a centrist who ran as an independent in 2023, were among the biggest losers of the evening.
With 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% of the vote, up from 6.8% in the last legislative elections in 2021, placing it as the third-largest party in the legislature.
It was behind the right-wing DISY and Communist AKEL parties which polled 27.2% and 23.8% of the vote, respectively, indicating a small decline for DISY and a small increase for AKEL.
