Nationalists make significant gains in Cyprus vote

The ruling conservatives emerge as winners but fail to get an absolute majority with voters turning to smaller parties.

The far-right ELAM party and a centrist splinter group have made big gains in Cyprus’ parliamentary election as a sizeable chunk of supporters appeared to have turned their back on the top three parties amid voter disenchantment with traditional power centres. With 100 percent of votes counted, ELAM on Sunday garnered 6.78 percent of the vote – a 3-percent increase from the previous election in 2016 – to edge out the socialist EDEK party by the razor-thin margin of about 200 votes. The centrist DIPA – made up of key figures from the centre-right DIKO party which has traditionally been the third-biggest party – gained 6.1 percent of the vote.