Cyprus’s far right appeared set for gains in Sunday’s election while an anti-corruption newcomer looked on track to enter parliament, according to early results that showed weaker support for centrist parties backing President Nikos Christodoulides. With about 45% of the vote counted, results released by the interior ministry showed far-right ELAM, an offshoot of Greece’s banned Golden Dawn party, with 11.1% of the vote, up from 6.8% in the last legislative elections in 2021. If the trend holds, the results suggest it could become the third-largest party in the 56-seat parliament behind right-wing DISY and Communist AKEL parties which were polling 27% and 22.8% of the vote, respectively, with a small increase for AKEL and a small decline for DISY.
While executive power rests with the presidency in Cyprus, the vote is widely seen as a gauge of political trends ahead of the 2028 presidential election and could flag the new alliances centrist Christodoulides may need to make if he wants to be re-elected. Three centrist parties backing Christodoulides — Diko, Dipa and EDEK — appeared headed for a weaker result, according to projections and the results. Corruption and cost of living concerns were prominent in the campaign. ELAM campaigned against migration and also holds a hard line in negotiations with Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically split island. ALMA, a newly formed movement campaigning on accountability and political reform, was set to secure parliamentary representation for the first time with just over 6% of the vote.
With parties backing Christodoulides appearing headed for losses and ELAM advancing, political analyst Hubert Faustmann said the result could complicate the president’s path to re-election. “If he doesn’t get the support of DISY, he necessarily needs ELAM support, formally or informally, for any chance of re-election,” he told Reuters.
(Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Helen Popper and Christina Fincher)
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