Fidias to forego parliament seat, remain as MEP

Social media influencer Fidias Panayiotou is to forego the seat in parliament which he won at Sunday’s election, instead choosing to serve out the remainder of his term as a member of the European Parliament.

He notified the interior ministry of his intention to not take the seat he won, with his seat as such to be bequeathed to neurophysiologist Yiannis Laouris, who was Direct Democracy Cyprus’ second most popular candidate after Panayiotou in the Nicosia district.

Direct Democracy Cyprus finished in sixth place on Sunday, taking 5.4 per cent of the vote – exactly 20,159 votes – and winning four seats nationwide.

That result, while respectable for a party fighting its first election, fell considerably short of the political earthquake Panayiotou had caused at the 2024 European Parliament elections, when he won 71,330 votes – 19.4 per cent – and placed behind only Disy and Akel.

At the time, he was the first independent Cypriot candidate to win a seat in the European Parliament in Cyprus since the country joined the European Union in 2004, and one of only five independents among the 720 MEPs elected across the continent in 2024.

Having foregone his seat in Cyprus’ national parliament, he will serve out the remainder of his term in Strasbourg, with that term set to expire in three years’ time.

The next European Parliament elections will take place between June 7 and June 10, 2029, with Cyprus to go to the polls on June 10.

المصدر: Cyprus Mail