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by Dr. Nikolaos Stelgias
In the weeks leading up to Cyprus’s parliamentary elections, we repeatedly advanced a single, uncomfortable thesis: that 24 May could mark a watershed in the island’s political history—a moment in which established forces would haemorrhage support and a new cast of ultra-nationalist and populist actors would step into the spotlight.
At first glance, Sunday night’s results appeared to render that prediction premature, perhaps even misplaced. The three traditional heavyweights of Cypriot politics largely held their ground. DISY, the conservative (or centre-right) party, finished first by a comfortable margin over AKEL—a result that, given pre-election polling placing it well below 20 percent, amounted to a quiet triumph. AKEL, for its part, marginally increased its share by roughly a percentage point. DIKO, the venerable “president-maker” of Cypriot politics, retained its voter base even as it relinquished its customary third-place position.
Yet to read these results as a vindication of the political establishment would be to mistake surface for substance. For at least four reasons, the apparent resilience of the traditional parties should not invite complacency.
First, the largest political force in Cyprus is not DISY—it is abstention. Nearly one in three voters once again turned their backs on the ballot box. Disillusioned young people, alongside citizens squeezed by a housing crisis, hidden inflation, and the steady erosion of livelihoods, have quietly withdrawn their consent from a political class they no longer believe represents them.
Second, the night’s most consequential winner—whether acknowledged or not—was ELAM, the Cypriot counterpart of Greece’s Golden Dawn, whose leadership in Greece was convicted of running a criminal organisation. Amid a deepening socioeconomic crisis, significant segments of Cypriot society have chosen to channel their protest through alignment with a movement that openly echoes the far-right currents sweeping across Europe.
Third, the other quiet beneficiaries of Sunday’s vote were the populists: a new cohort of politically vacuous actors who promise to confront the island’s corrupt establishment without ever proposing to challenge the structural foundations that sustain it. In moments of crisis, the far right rarely advances alone; populism follows as its companion—an opiate for a disenchanted public.
Fourth, two long-standing pillars of conservative governing coalitions under Anastasiades and Christodoulides—EDEK and the Ecologists—have now been pushed out of parliament. Only a few years ago, both were considered meaningful forces in Cypriot political life.
In sum, however reassuring Sunday’s percentages may appear, the deeper sociopolitical dynamics in Cyprus point to a rapidly shifting and increasingly volatile landscape. Entrenched class inequalities continue to provide fertile ground for both the far right and populist movements—at a moment when a genuinely socialist, class-based, and militant Left remains conspicuously and treacherously absent from the political forefront.
Artwork: Perplexity