Our View: No problem that president not backed by new Cyprus House

In the end, the fears that the parliamentary elections would produce a dysfunctional, fragmented legislature that would destabilise the country proved totally unfounded. Perhaps the scaremongering by the government, Disy and Diko about irresponsible populists taking control of the new House affected the decisions of voters, who opted for the familiar rather than the new. Six parties won seats on Sunday whereas in the previous parliament seven were represented.

Three of those – Edek, Greens, Dipa – were left out of parliament, replaced by the fledgling parties Alma and Direct Democracy, which were supposed to dominate the election, but ended up with four seats each. After a continuous presence of 50 years, Edek will have no say in the legislature, and it remains to be seen whether it will be a political force by the time of the next elections in five years. The same applies to Dipa, which has only been in existence for a few years, while the Greens, which saw their share of the vote reduced by more than 50 per cent on Sunday, might have to bring back Giorgos Perdikis as party leader to recover.

Alma, the personal vehicle of Odysseas Michaelides, did not do as well as early opinion polls suggested, and the 5.8 per cent of the vote it secured, while commendable for a new party, showed that the former auditor-general was not as popular as he thought he was and neither was his single issue campaign. Direct Democracy, which did not campaign for anything, also secured four seats, but it will have no leader in the legislature as Fidias Panayiotou has decided to keep his seat in the European Parliament, for some reason.

Far-right Elam saw its share of the vote rise to an impressive 11 per cent, being on a par with Diko as the third strongest party. The real triumph was for the two big parties, Disy and Akel, which kept their number of seats, the latter also increasing its share of the vote by 1.5 percentage points. The abundance of parties fighting for votes could not affect the political dominance of the big two, which remain, by far, the most influential forces.

The election results could not have been welcomed by the presidential palace as two of the three parties that backed President Nikos Christodoulides’ candidacy in 2023, Edek and Dipa, failed to enter parliament. With several of his close associates being elected as Elam candidates, is it possible that the president will try to secure the backing of the far-right party over the next year-and-a-half? He may also need their backing to pass legislation as Diko and Disy, which marketed themselves as the responsible, anti-populist parties, do not have a majority.

This should not be a problem for the government which still managed to get its bills through the legislature in the last three years without having the support of the majority.   

المصدر: Cyprus Mail