[Note the elections are for 56 of the 80 seats in the House of Representatives]
The hourglass now turned upside down and the sand began to run in reverse. The time of the elections is approaching and the kick-off will be officially given with the printing of the ballots, which is the next stop on the way to the ballot box.
This, barring any unforeseen circumstances and objections, is expected to happen by Saturday, May 9 at the latest, with the electoral scene officially taking its final form.
Yesterday, however, we had a first pan-Cypriot revelation with the submission of candidacies in all the provinces of Cyprus.
A process that sent several messages not only in relation to the huge number of candidates and the large number of electoral lists, but also from the profile, the statements and non-statements of the candidates and the political formations that were yesterday in the local candidacy submission areas.
The political messages
Yesterday was also a first visual depiction of the fluidity of the political scene. Images that prepare or even foreshadow how political life in Cyprus can evolve, ringing an alarm bell about how things can develop as a result of the ballot box and which Parliament we could have.
Through their statements, the political leaders of the parliamentary parties attempted to send political messages and highlight dilemmas for the next day.
After the submission of the candidacies, the parties are now entering the final stage, culminating their pre-election campaign and having clear and unambiguous goals.
DISY, AKEL, DIKO, EDEK, DIPA and Ecologists, strike at rallying with the mobilization of their traditional voters. ELAM, in addition to its own rallying, aims to maintain the inflows it had from other parties and at the same time to limit its leaks to newly emerging party formations.
Beyond that, Volt seeks an official entry into Parliament, Alma a dynamic entry into the political scene and Direct Democracy the... new order as a deferred copy of the model of Italy's Five Star movement.
The ECJ played with patriotism and resistance to the new order of things, DIMAL with the human rights solution for the Cyprus problem, the United Cypriot Hunters Movement with the defense of its demands and each independent with its own and their own proposals.
753 nominations and 19 combinations
A record number of candidacies and combinations were submitted on Wednesday for the 2026 Parliamentary Elections, according to the Chief Returning Officer, Elikkos Ilias. Specifically, 753 candidacies and 19 combinations were submitted.
"Today, candidacies for the Parliamentary Elections to be held on May 24, 2026 were submitted to the Returning Officers of Members of the House of Representatives. A total of 753 candidacies were submitted, about 100 more than in the last Parliamentary Elections, of which 744 concern party combinations and 9 concern individual candidates," he said.
Mr. Elias confirmed that this is a record number of both candidacies and combinations. "The previous largest number we had was in the 2021 Parliamentary Elections. Then there were 15 party combinations, now we have 19 and now we have 102 more candidates than we had in 2021."
The 19 political parties that have submitted a candidacy are registered on the list of political parties. The Superintendent listed them in alphabetical order.
These are the Rural Agricultural Workers' Party, AKEL-Progressive Party of the Working People, Far Left Resistance Communism, Alma-Citizens for Cyprus, Direct Democracy of Cyprus, Volt Cyprus, Democratic Change, Democratic Party-Cooperation of Democratic Forces, Democratic National Movement-ECJ, Democratic Party, Democratic Alarm, EDEK-Socialist Party, National Popular Front-ELAM, Active Citizens-Movement of United Cypriot Hunters, Movement of Ecologists-Cooperation Citizens, People's Struggle Freedom, Patriotic Front Lacedaemonians, Sikou Pano and Green Party of Cyprus.
According to the Registrar, 529 candidacies or 70.3% concern men and 224 candidacies or 29.7% women.
Some lists run in the elections with full ballots, with a number of candidates equal to the number of parliamentary seats in each constituency, while some lists participate with specific candidates or only in specific constituencies.
"The candidacies for the elections of the representatives of the religious groups, i.e. the Maronites, the Armenians and the Latins, were also submitted to me, in my capacity as the Superintendent of the Election of the Representatives of the Religious Groups," the Registrar said.
Specifically, he said that for the religious group of the Maronites, two candidacies were submitted, by Marios Mavridis and Petros Nakouzis, and therefore, he said, there will probably be elections for the representatives of this group.
For the Armenian religious group, one nomination was submitted by Vartkes Mahdessian and for the Latin religious group, one nomination was also submitted by Antonella Lydia Mantovani.
According to the Registrar, if there is no objection within the next 24 hours, or after the examination of any objections that may be submitted, the Registrar will proceed to elect the representatives of the Latins and Armenians as elected, since they run without an opponent.
Asked about issues that had been raised for examination of the eligibility qualifications of specific candidates, Mr. Elias said that all the issues that have been raised before the Legal Service have been clarified and no problem has arisen.
The Superintendent clarified that from some publications and letters that reached the Ministry, the preliminary check with the Legal Service began days ago. The audit concerned 10-12 candidates, for whom in all cases the Legal Service advised that they were entitled to be candidates.
"We have started accepting objections from now. They may exist. I hope they don't exist. If there are, however, we have a close cooperation, both with the Police and with the Legal Service and we will examine any issues that arise immediately," he said.
Besides, he noted, there were also some absences, with candidates who withdrew their interest or were replaced by their party.
Nominations will be finalized after the submission of any objections and the decision on them.
On May 9, the printing of the ballots begins
The goal, said the Superintendent, is to start printing the ballots within 2-3 days. "We are in consultation with the Director of the Government Printing Office and the planning is on May 9 to start printing the ballots," he said.
