Nicosia, Cyprus. Disy and Akel retained all the seats they had held in the last parliament in Sunday’s election, despite pre-election polls that had predicted losses for both parties. Elam rose to third place, doubling its representation in the House from four seats to eight.
Traditional parties
Diko fell to fourth place but kept eight of the nine seats it held before election day. As a result, the traditional “big three” parties lost just one seat between them, despite expectations that the election would produce a wider shift away from Cyprus’s established political parties.
Parliamentary makeup
The next parliament will include fewer parties than the outgoing one, with six parties winning seats on Sunday compared with seven five years ago. The “big three” and Elam will be joined by two new parties, Alma and Direct Democracy Cyprus, while Dipa, Edek and the Ecologists’ Movement lost their representation. Alma and Direct Democracy Cyprus will each take four seats.
Vote shares
Disy’s vote share fell slightly from 27.8 per cent five years ago to 27.2 per cent on Sunday, although the party won more votes than it did in 2021 and passed 100,000 votes for the first time since 2016. Akel increased its share from 22.3 per cent to 23.9 per cent, while Diko fell from 11.3 per cent to 10 per cent.
Elam’s vote share increased from 6.8 per cent to 10.9 per cent. Alma won 5.8 per cent of the vote and Direct Democracy Cyprus 5.4 per cent.
Other parties
Edek failed to win seats in parliament for the first time in its 57-year history, taking 3.2 per cent of the vote. Party leader Nikos Anastasiou resigned following the result.
The Hunters’ Movement also won 3.2 per cent of the vote, doing better than pre-election polling suggested but failing to win a seat. Dipa and Volt both took 3.1 per cent. Dipa had expected a disappointing result, while Volt was seen as likely to win a seat before the vote, according to pre-election polling.