Far-right ELAM party makes big gains in Cyprus elections, but Conservatives win elections

The people in the Republic of Cyprus voted on Sunday to renew Parliament. 21 parties competed for the 56 seats available in the Assembly. 

Conservative Democratic Rally party and Communist AKEL held their position as the two largest parties on the island but saw support eroded by smaller and right wing parties.

The far-right ELAM party and a centrist smaller group have made big gains while the top three parties appeared to have been heavily punished by voters, clearly disenchanted with traditional power centres.

With 100 percent of votes counted, ELAM got 6.78 percent of the vote – a 3-percent increase from the previous election in 2016 – to edge out the socialist EDEK party by a narrow margin of about 200 votes.