Cyprus: Parliamentary Elections To Be Held Today.

Nicosia; May 2026: Cyprus is all prepared to organise the Parliamentary Elections today (Sunday – 24th May 2026) to elect the 56 Parliamentary Members who would represent the Cypriots for the next five years in what promises to be a most exciting election. Over half a million voters go to the polls today.

It is certainly the largest ever in terms of the number of candidates, with 744 candidates running representing 19 political parties and 08 independent candidates. Of the total, 520 candidates are men and 224 women. In the 2021 parliamentary elections there were 651 candidates, with 493 in 2016.

Exit polls will be carried immediately after the polls close at 18:00 hours, with initial results from small polling stations expected as early as 18:30 hours. The percentages and the number of seats that each party receives should be clarified by 21:30 hours, but all the actual names of the new MPs from each party will probably not become clear until after 01:30 hours tomorrow (Monday – 25th) morning.

Maverick News 30 has earlier reported that all eyes will be on how party newcomers: Direct Democracy, Alma and Volt, is expected to perform in the elections as they lock horns with big outlets namely: Disy and Akel. The new parties will also face Elam, Diko, Dipa, Edek and the Ecologists’ Movement, not all of which are expected to win seats.

A total of 569,182 peoples are eligible to vote, which is an increase of 11,081 in comparison to the preceding elections in 2021. The 595 enclaved in the north who will be voting today (Sunday, the 24th) are not included in this number.

Voters will be requested to proceed to polling stations to vote for the party of their choice and a number of names, which differs by district.

Nicosia gets 19 seats, Limassol 12, Famagusta 11, Larnaca 06, Paphos 04 and Kyrenia 03. Voting is scheduled to begin at 07:00 hours. Polling closes at 18:00 hours with a one-hour break at noon, and votes will be counted at the polling stations themselves rather than a central location.

Representatives of religious groups in parliament, those who do not have voting rights on legislation for the Armenian and Latin communities have already been declared without an opponent. These are Vartkes Mahdessian and Antonella Lydia Mantovani respectively. For the Maronites, there are 02 candidates, who will be elected today.

There are 1,217 polling stations: including 13 for the election of the Maronite parliamentary representative, with a maximum of 600 voters each. These polling stations will be staffed by around 5,300 employees and over 1,200 police officers. Polling stations will also be operating in London, Athens, Thessaloniki and Brussels.

The current electoral system provides for the allocation of parliamentary seats at the first distribution on a simple pro rata basis, while in the two subsequent phases of the second allocation, a reinforced proportional representation system is applied, with thresholds of 3.6% and 7.2%, respectively.

For a party to be eligible to participate in the second allocation, it must obtain 3.6% of the valid votes. Voting is, of course, secret.

Ballot papers are printed in different colours for each electoral constituency to avoid confusion among voters and to facilitate the work of the responsible officials during the voting process, particularly with regard to the sorting and counting of the votes.

Nicosia’s ballot paper is white, Limassol yellow, Famagusta blue, Larnaca pink, Paphos green and Kyrenia orange. At the bottom of each ballot paper, beneath the names of the candidates, is a box where the voters must mark their party of preference. Ballot papers are to be folded in the polling booth and then it is to be deposited in the ballot box.

Only one can be chosen and voters may not vote for candidates from different party lists. They may vote for either a single party or a single independent candidate. If the voters decide to vote for a party list, they may choose their candidates of preference, however this is not compulsory.

Preference crosses can be up to 05 for Nicosia, 03 for Limassol, 03 for Famagusta, 02 for Larnaca, 02 for Paphos and 01 for Kyrenia.

Individuals with disabilities can request assistance from the presiding officer of the polling station. A petition disputing the validity of the elections may be filed within a period of two months from the date of publication of the final election results in the Official Gazette of the Republic.

Team Maverick.