568,587 voters are invited to elect the 56 on Sunday, May 24, in an electoral contest that is characterized as ambiguous and historic at the same time.
Upheavals in the polls in Cyprus
A series of opinion polls conducted in the past days, foreshadow the first upheaval, concerning the three historic parties that . More specifically, they do not collectively exceed 45% in any of the most recent surveys conducted for the Alpha News and Sigma Live sites.
This is a real political earthquake, since only a decade ago the three factions gathered more than 70% of the votes on a percentage scale. An important development is the referendum failure of the historic EDEK party to overcome the threshold for entry into the Parliament (3.6%).
Who takes advantage of the collapse of the status quo constitutes the second twist. The far-right National People’s Front (E.LA.M.) is consistently recorded as the third party in all measurements, garnering double-digit percentages. Of course, the parliamentary representation of two new parties, completely identified with their leaders, must be considered.
“Alma – Citizens for Cyprus” of the former Auditor General Odysseus Michaelides and “Direct Democracy”, of the MEP Phidias Panagiotou, gather percentages of more than 5%, however they retreat from the high “flights” that characterized their debut in domestic political life. Also won is the pro-European party Volt Cyprus, which seems to be approaching 4%, claiming parliamentary representation.
The fall of “tradition” and the new parties
How is the emergence of new political formations in place of traditional ones explained?
In the case of ELAM, the answer seems to lie in the immigration issue. Although official figures show a steep decline in immigration flows (from 17,438 in 2022 to 2,444 in 2025), the issue continues to cause great concern in a large part of society. Based on the available data, 30% of Cypriots consider immigration the second most important problem after inflation and the war in Iran.
In this environment, ELAM has turned the issue into a central pillar of its political agenda, favoring as a solution the adoption of a stricter immigration policy, through legislative acts such as the further acceleration of deportation procedures and the limitation of time frames for submitting appeals after the first rejection of asylum applications. The strategy of distancing itself from the Greek, neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, with which ELAM maintained strong ties until 2019, seems to have worked to reinforce the party’s ability to address larger audiences.
A second reason capable of explaining the rise of all the new opposition parties is the discrediting of the old political system, due to a generalized sense of corruption. Moreover, the presence of the opposition parties that use the fight against corruption as the tip of their spear is reinforced by the actuality itself. In January, an uproar was caused by a video that was made public showing associates of the President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides participating in a corruption scheme to finance his election campaign.
Finally, the director of the Office of the President, Charalambos Charalambous, resigned, while the First Lady, Philippa Karsera, left the management of a charity foundation. In April, , who allegedly operated for years in Cyprus and was involved in acts of corruption, entanglement and also criminally hellish acts.
Different languages and TikTok
In this climate, the newly appeared opposition figures, especially the first-timers in parliament, Odysseas Michailidis and Phidias Panagiotou, have based their appeal on the narrative of anti-corruption and the conflict with the establishment. The policy practice style is different for each case. While the former Auditor General uses caustic but institutional language, the YouTuber and MEP opposes himself with a more popular and direct vocabulary, using the power of social media.
A recent report by the Cypriot newspaper Phileleftheros identified DISY. as the main source of votes for the head of Alma and respectively AKEL as the main source of Mr. Panagiotou. The explanation for the first leak should be sought in the institutional past of Mr. Michaelidis but also in the pro-European profile he promotes for his party, placing it in the “reform center”.
On the contrary, statements and actions of the head of the Direct Democracy, such as the visit to Russia, the friendly attitude of Phidias Panagiotou himself towards Russia and the president Vladimir Putin, as well as opinions expressed by people close to him, are considered to compose a palette of positions more friendly to a left-wing audience.
