2024 European Parliament election in Cyprus

← 2019 9 June 2024 2029 →
6 Cypriot seats to theEuropean Parliament
Opinion polls
Turnout	58.86% ( 13.87pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Annita Demetriou Stefanos Stefanou Fidias Panayiotou Party DISY AKEL Independent Alliance EPP The Left NI Last election 29.02%, 2 seats 27.49%, 2 seats New Seats before 2 2 New Seats won 2 1 1 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 91,316 79,163 71,330 Percentage 24.78% 21.49% 19.36% Swing 4.24 6.0 19.36   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Christos Christou Nikolas Papadopoulos Marinos Sizopoulos Party ELAM DIKO EDEK Alliance ECR S&D S&D Last election 8.25%, 0 seats 13.80%, 1 seat 10.58%, 1 seat Seats before 0 1 1 Seats won 1 1 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 41,215 35,815 18,681 Percentage 11.19% 9.72% 5.07% Swing 2.94 4.08 5.51
Results by communities and municipalities

The2024 European Parliament elections inCyprus was held on 9 June 2024 as part of the2024 European Parliament election.This was the fifth parliamentary election sinceCyprus's EU accession in 2004.

Thecentre-rightDemocratic Rally (DISY), which has won every previous election to this body, emerged victorious again with 24.8% of the votes, securing 2 seats. Thecommunist partyAKEL followed with 21.5% and 1 seat.^[1]

Independent candidateFidias Panayiotou, a well-knownYouTuber andTikToker, finished third with 19.4% of the votes, earning one seat in the European Parliament. Panayiotou had no support from any party, making him the first elected independentMEP in the history of Cyprus.^[2][3][4] His election sent shockwaves through the Cypriot political system, with Fidias finishing within several percentage points behind AKEL and DISY, which have dominated the Cypriot political system since independence. The 24-year-old YouTuber, with no political experience, gained a seat at the expense of well-established parties likeELAM,DIKO andEDEK.^{[2][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

To reduce costs,^[12] the election was held concurrently with the municipal elections. Voters were provided with six different ballots.^[13]

This was the first such vote to take place since thewithdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Also known as 'Brexit', the move impacted Cyprus due to ties linked to its status as a fellowCommonwealth member and former UK colony.

The election was primarily focused on the issue ofillegal migration, withPresidentNikos Christodoulides declaring thatCyprus is in "a state of serious crisis".^[14][15] Due to theGaza war, the number of illegal migrants in Cyprus skyrocketed, with more than 2,000 people arriving in the first three months of 2024, compared to just 78 in the same period the previous year.^[16] According to the president, 7% of the Cypriot population now consists of migrants.^[17][18] This increasing migrational upheaval led to a significant rise in the poll numbers of thefar-right,anti-immigration partyELAM, whosemanifesto is primarily focused on illegal migration.^[19][20]

Theindependent candidacy of 24-year-old YouTuber and TikTokerFidias Panayiotou was initially viewed as a joke and was ignored by political parties.^[8] Panayiotou was open about his lack of political knowledge and did not express any concrete political positions.^[21][22] However, his adept use ofsocial media successfully crafted his image as the mainanti-establishment andanti-partisan candidate.^{[22][23][24][25]} His name appeared inopinion polls just one month before the election, showing single-digit voting intentions and zero seat projections.^[26][27][28]

This election was the European Parliament election with the highest number ofTurkish Cypriot candidates from different parties. The incumbent Member of the ParliamentNiyazi Kizilyurek was running again withAKEL,^[29] the new founded partyVolt Cyprus was showingHulusi Kilim as a lead candidate,^[30] andOz Karahan was running as a candidate fromKOSP.^[31] The government also started campaigns for including the Turkish Cypriots more into the elections.

TheDemocratic Rally (DISY) has won every election since the island's accession into the EU in 2004, though the party recently suffered defeat in thepresidential election.

NineDISY personalities announced their interest for the European Parliament Elections.^[32] The six nominees were selected through an internal election process, with former Health MinisterMichalis Hatzipantelas emerging as the top candidate.^[33][34]

Marios Pelekanos, one of the three vice presidents of theDemocratic Rally, finished second to last in the internal election and was not included in the list of six nominees. Pelekanos expressed profound dissatisfaction and subsequently resigned from his position within the party leadership, citing a series of underlying events that had undermined his standing.^[35][36] After multi-day discussions withELAM, on March 22, 2024, it was announced that he would run in theEuropean Elections as a candidate of theultranationalist party. The leader of the Democratic Rally,Annita Demetriou, harshly condemned this move, and the center-right party proceeded by deleting Pelekanos from its registry, emphasising the vast differences in politics between the two parties.^[37][38]

Despite numerous challenges, including the candidacy of Marios Pelekanos withELAM,^[37]Eleni Theocharous withDIKO,^[39][40] and Pantelis Poietis withDIPA,^[41][42][43] as well as many corruption scandals fromAnastasiades' administration^{[44][45][46][47][48][49]} and widespread dissatisfaction withDISY's role as the main opposition inChristodoulides' government (with various DISY members in the current cabinet despite the party's stance as opposition),^[50] thecentre-right party managed to achieve another first-place finish, maintaining its two seats in theEuropean Parliament. However, the 24.8% of the popular vote is the worst result in the party's history, significantly lower than the 29% in the2019 election and the 37.8% in the2014 election.^[51]

Anna Theologou, leader of thecentre-left partyGeneration Change, is featured as one ofAKEL's candidates, effectively merging the two parties.^[52] Theologou is regarded as a highly reputable politician, with the ability to attract votes to thecommunist party based on her personal influence.^[53]

After consistently placing second in everyEuropean Parliament Election, some opinion polls indicated a surge in the party's performance relative to the frontrunnerDISY, with some polls even positioning it in the first place.^[54] Moreover, the opinion polls did not includeTurkish Cypriot voters, although they have the right to vote. Since AKEL's candidates included the Turkish CypriotNiyazi Kizilyurek, the Turkish Cypriot vote was expected to boost the percentage for theleft-wing party even more.^[55][56]

Despite these expectations,AKEL experienced its worst defeat in its history, receiving just 21.5% of the votes, only 2 percentage points ahead ofindependent candidate andYouTuberFidias Panayiotou. The party lost one of its two seats and now, for the first time in its history, holds only one seat in theEuropean Parliament.^[57][58][59]

Thefar-right partyELAM was projected by all opinion polls to secure its first seat in theEuropean Parliament. Formerly considered on the fringe, the party was now anticipated to achieve a third-place finish, surpassingDIKO, with every poll indicating a percentage higher than 13%.^[60] Known for itsanti-establishment and often labeledextremist positions, the party was now being considered "mainstream" for the first time,^[61] asillegal migration became the most important issue for Cypriot voters.^[14][62]

The party announced the candidacy of Pavlos Ioannou, who served as the financial commissioner ofCyprus from 2013 to 2023.^[63][64] The candidacy of the reputable figure caused surprise and was anticipated to attract moremoderate voters to the party often referred to as "extremist". Notably, Ioannou clarified that he is not a member of ELAM but has been granted complete freedom of speech and disagreement by the party. He emphasized that his views align more withrationalism rather thanfar-right ideologies. Additionally, Ioannou stated his commitment not to vote against the rights of theLGBTQ+ community in potential European votes, provided that the rights of other groups were not impeded.^[65][66]

The announcement of Marios Pelekanos' candidacy withELAM, who had been serving as vice president of thecentre-rightDISY until a few weeks prior, created a political upheaval. Pelekanos, who also held the position of government spokesperson inAnastasiades' administration from 2021 to 2023, was believed to have the potential to attract a considerable number of DISY voters to ELAM.^[67][68][69]

The party did succeed in securing its first seat, winning 3 percentage points more than in 2019,^[70][4] but the "Fidias Phenomenon" likely hindered its rising momentum, with the vote share of 11.2% being lower than what most opinion polls predicted.^[71][72]

Despite finishing third in all previous European elections, theDemocratic Party (DIKO) now appeared fourth in every opinion poll released, falling below thefar-rightELAM.^[73]

The party's candidates featured the veteran politician and paediatric surgeonEleni Theocharous, who had served as anMEP from 2009 to 2019 initially withDISY and later with the newly establishedSolidarity Movement.^[39][40] Theconservative politician, who was ranked 3 times as the second best MEP by theDEVE Committee, was widely considered a strong candidate to attractnationalist voters away from ELAM.^[40][74]

The list also featuredbiochemistLeondios Kostrikis, who served as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Health during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Cyprus.^[40][75] The Professor is also internationally known for his discovery of a newCOVID-19 variant in January 2022, the so-called "Deltacron", at theUniversity of Cyprus.^{[76][77][78][79]}

The historic party, which had consistently finished third in every legislative and European election inCyprus since its foundation in 1976,^[80][81] suffered a significant defeat. The vote share of 9.7% marked the first single-digit result in the party's history, and the fifth-place finish was its lowest ranking. The well-established party, with tens of thousands of members,^[82] received 10 percentage points less than the 24-year-oldYouTuberFidias Panayiotou, who ran as anindependent candidate with no political experience.^[83][84] Despite this setback,DIKO managed to retain its seat, re-electing incumbentMEPCostas Mavrides.^[85]

According to all opinion polls, thecentre-left partyEDEK was projected to lose its seat in theEuropean Parliament. Critics accused the party of losing its identity, with some even claiming that many of its political positions became indistinguishable from those of thefar-right partyELAM.^[86][87]

EDEK received 5.1% of the popular vote, marking the lowest percentage in its 55-year history.^[88] The "traditional 4th-place party" lost its seat in theEuropean Parliament (which it had consistently secured since 2009) and finished 6th, marking its lowest place in history.^[89]

After the merge of its alliance partySYPOL withEDEK in 2021,^[90][91] thegreen partyKOSP cooperated withEchmi Movement andUnion of Cypriots for the2024 European Election.^[92][93]

In October 2023,Alexandra Attalides, one of the three electedKOSPMPs, resigned from the party. She cited dissatisfaction with the party's stance on theCyprus problem, its inability to produce concrete and comprehensive policy proposals, and the vindictive behaviour of its collective members. Attalides also accused the party of diverging from the policies, principles, and values of theEuropean Greens, promotingxenophobia, and failing to oppose large-scale developments that harm the environment.^[94][95] In November 2023,Alexandra Attalides announced her membership in the newly establishedVolt Cyprus,^[96] and the following month, she was elected as the party's president.^[97][98]

The day afterAlexandra Attalides' shocking resignation and her serious accusations, the president ofKOSP,Charalambos Theopemptou, resigned from his position.^[99][100] Following an internal election, the presidency returned toGeorge Perdikes, who had previously served as the party's president from 2014 to 2020.^[101]

FollowingAlexandra Attalides' resignation, more resignations ensued, including 16 of the 67 members of the Central Committee.^[102] Efi Xanthou, a 2019 candidate for theEuropean Parliament^[103] andGeorge Perdikes' opponent in the internal election afterCharalambos Theopemptou's resignation,^[101] left the party in May 2024, accusing it of making undemocratic decisions.^{[104][105][106]}

On March 21, 2024,Fidias Panayiotou, a globally renowned CypriotYouTuber, confirmed speculations that he was approached by theKOSP to be included in their list of six candidates for theEuropean elections. Panayiotou engaged his audience by conducting a poll onTikTok to gauge their opinion on his potential candidacy, offering two options: running as a member ofKOSP or running independently. Out of a total of 10,000 participants, 70% favored the latter option. Consequently, Panayiotou announced his decision to pursue anindependent candidacy.^[107][108]

After facing numerous challenges and resignations, the party received its worst result since 2001, garnering just 1.3% of the popular vote and failing to secure any seats.^[4][109] This marked a significant decline from the 3.29% achieved in the2019 European election, leaving the party with only one-third of its previous political power.^[110]

On October 26, 2023, theNew Wave and Famagusta for Cyprus movements announced their merger, resulting in the formation ofVolt Cyprus as a political party.^[111] The Cyprus branch ofVolt Europa was officially established on December 3, 2023, shortly after the resignation ofMPAlexandra Attalides fromKOSP.^[94][96]

Alexandra Attalides, who received the 2021 "International Anti-Corruption Champions Award" from theUnited States,^[112] was elected as the party's president.^[97][98] Attalides prioritised addressingclimate change,corruption, theCyprus problem, the rise of thefar-right, andimmigration as the main focuses for the party.^[113]

The party's candidates for theEuropean Elections includeMakarios Drousiotis, apolitical activist,journalist, andwriter. Drousiotis had garnered significant attention following the publication of atrilogy of books containing personal accounts and third-party documents uncovering extensivecorruption scandals during the presidency ofNicos Anastasiades.^{[114][115][116]} His third publication, "Mafia State," instigated a criminal investigation against Anastasiades, prompting the involvement of international legal practitionerGabrielle Louise McIntyre.^[117][118]

Despite being a newcomer, the party received 2.9% of the votes, surpassingKOSP andDIPA, both of which hold seats in theHouse of Representatives.Makarios Drousiotis received the most votes among the six candidates of Volt Cyprus.^[59] However, the party did not secure any seats.^[1]

Pantelis Poietis, formerly the Deputy Secretary of International Relations of theDemocratic Rally (DISY), is now one of the six candidates nominated byDIPA for theEuropean Elections. After resigning from DISY on September 9, 2022, Poietis supportedNicos Christodoulides in the2023 Presidential Election, who stood as an opposing candidate to DISY'sAverof Neofytou.^[41][42][43]

This sectioncontainspromotional content. Please helpimprove it by removingpromotional language and inappropriateexternal links, and by adding encyclopedic text written from aneutral point of view.(June 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Fidias Panayiotou, a 24-year-oldYouTuber,^[119] turned down an offer to join theEcologists' electoral list and instead announced hisindependent candidacy for this election. He initiated asocial media campaign with the goal of increasing youthvoter registration. On 30 March 2024, helive-streamed himself onYouTube running 80 km fromKyrenia toLarnaca to encourage young people to register for the election. On that day alone, over 2000 new voter registrations were recorded.^[120][121] He also launched a podcast series, interviewing renowned political and non-political personalities, to engage both himself and his audience in political discussions.^[122][123]

His candidacy was initially widely viewed as a joke and not perceived as a threat by political parties.^[8] The fact that no independent candidate had ever come close to being elected as anMEP in the history of Cyprus^[3] combined with his political illiteracy,^[21][22] made Panayiotou an outsider.^[124] It wasn't until one month before the election that his name started appearing in opinion polls, and even then, with single-digit voting intentions.^[26][27][28] The sudden increase in Fidias' percentages was dubbed the "Fidias Phenomenon," highlighting how an independent candidate with no political experience could shake up theCypriot political system.^{[125][126][127][21]}

Fidias ran on ananti-partisan andanti-establishment platform, accusing establishment politicians of neglecting society's best interests and failing to understand critical modern developments such asAI andBitcoin.^{[128][129][130]} He emphasisededucation as a priority, aiming to enhance schools in bothCyprus and theEU by eliminating exams and promotingself-education.^[131] He also acknowledged the significance of adapting to the impact ofartificial intelligence on future developments. Regarding theCyprus issue, Panayiotou leaned towards the "Bi-zonal, Bi-communalFederation" solution while expressing a willingness to learn more about the complexities involved. Additionally, he advocated for a measured approach to migration, proposing thatasylum applications should be processed from applicants' home countries before their arrival inCyprus.^[132]

Fidias' electoral success was attributed to his adept use ofsocial media and the widespread dissatisfaction of the public with the current political system.^[23][25] Without spending any money onTV advertisements,billboards, orGoogle ads, he crafted his image as the primaryanti-establishment candidate purely through daily, non-sponsoredYouTube shorts.^{[23][24][25][22]} Some journalists described this asCyprus entering an era of "metapolitics," where protest votes were able to elect an "apolitical," independent candidate.^{[133][134][135]}

The unprecedented result of 19.4% was just 2 percentage points lower than theleft-wingAKEL,^[136] a party with nearly 100 years of history^[137] that, along withDISY, has dominated the Cypriot political system since the country'sindependence.^[11] The third-place finish of the independent candidate sent shockwaves through the Cypriot political system,^[7] with the well-establishedDIKO, traditionally the third-place party,^[80][81] receiving 10 percentage points less than him.^[136] Fidias also surpassed thefar-rightELAM, which had been anticipated to thrive due to the recent surge inillegal migration.^{[17][18][14][62][136]}

Following his election as an MEP, Fidias announced plans to create a newEuropean political party with other like-minded MEPs.^[138][139] He also expressed interest in joining the Education Committee of theEU and suggested the creation of a new Social Media and AI Committee.^[140][141]

Along withLuxembourg andMalta,Cyprus is the smallest constituency, electing 6Members of the European Parliament. The seats are distributed viaopen list proportional representation.^[142]

Name	Photograph	Personal votes	National Party	EP Group
Fidias Panayiotou		71,330	Independent	NI
Loukas Fourlas		52,590	Democratic Rally	EPP
Giorgos Georgiou		32,759	Progressive Party of Working People	EUL–NGL
Michalis Hatzipantelas		30,953	Democratic Rally	EPP
Costas Mavrides		20,494	Democratic Party	S&D
Geadis Geadi		14,705	ELAM	ECR

• 2024 elections in Cyprus
• 2024 European Parliament election
• June 2024 in Cyprus
• European Parliament elections in Cyprus
• Opinion polling in Cyprus

• CS1 Greek-language sources (el)
• Articles with short description
• Short description with empty Wikidata description
• Articles with a promotional tone from June 2024
• All articles with a promotional tone