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Bloomberg
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades’s center-right Disy party recorded its worst results in parliamentary elections in 40 years, as voters vented their frustration over the government’s handling of the country’s “golden passport†program.
With presidential elections due in 2023, support for Disy fell to between 24% and 28% compared with 30.7% in the last vote in 2016, according to initial projections by public broadcaster RIK.
The main opposition communist Akel party was seen winning between 23% and 27% of the vote, with centrist Diko projected to come in third, the far-right Elam fourth, socialist Edek fifth and the Greens sixth.
While the results of the ballot have no direct impact
on the government given Cyprus’s presidential system, it will now be even harder for Anastasiades to pass legislation without the support of smaller parties.
Though voters have credited the government with relatively good management of the
coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, “the election process was dominated by corruption scandals and the consequences of the controversial passport-for-investment program,†said Alexander Apostolides, researcher at the European University Cyprus.
Former speaker of the Cypriot House of Parliament Demetris Syllouris resigned in October, after a report caught him on video offering to
help a Chinese businessman with a criminal record get
citizenship.
Jho Low, a Malaysian linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, was also among the beneficiaries of the program offering citizenship to foreign investors.
Cyprus ended the program on November 1.
In January, Anastasiades was only able to secure lawmakers’ support for his government’s 2021 budget after a second vote amid continued fallout over the passport
program.
“Legislative reform will be even more difficult in the new parliament, which has serious ramifications for implementing reforms to absorb European Union funds to combat the effects of the pandemic,†Apostolides said.