By the end of the week, Cyprus’s party coffers will be replenished, as the House of Representatives’ accounting service releases state funding for 2026, amounting to a total of €12.7 million.
Of this sum, €7 million will be paid directly to parliamentary parties and their youth organisations, while the remaining €5.6 million will cover salaries and benefits for the 100 parliamentary aides employed by parties and MPs.
The timing is politically sensitive. With parliamentary elections scheduled for May, parties are entering an intensive pre-election period that requires substantial financial resources for campaigning, rallies and organisational activity. The vote is widely seen as pivotal, given the emergence of new political formations that could erode the dominance of the two largest parties, DISY and AKEL, while further marginalising smaller players.
How the €12.7m will be distributed
Core party funding
A total of €6.7 million will be allocated to parliamentary parties.
• Fifteen percent will be distributed equally among all parties.
• The remaining 85 percent will be shared proportionally, based on each party’s performance in the May 2021 parliamentary elections.
Approximate allocations for 2026 are as follows:
-
DISY: €1.98m
-
AKEL: €1.62m
-
DIKO: €890,000
-
ELAM: €591,000
-
EDEK: €587,000
-
DIPA: €546,000
-
Green Party Cyprus: €434,000
A further €314,640 will be granted to the youth wings of parliamentary parties. Each organisation will receive €9,000, with the remaining €251,640 distributed proportionally according to the 2021 election results of their parent parties.
An additional €50,000 will cover contributions by Cypriot parties to their respective European political families.
“Information” activities abroad
Another €100,000 will be paid to parliamentary parties for “information purposes”, allowing them to carry out activities abroad in 2026 aimed at promoting the Republic of Cyprus’s official positions on the Cyprus problem and the ongoing impact of the Turkish occupation on refugees. Although the amount is relatively small, it constitutes public money and is not subject to detailed justification through receipts.
Parliamentary aides
The largest single allocation, €5.6 million, is earmarked for the employment of 100 parliamentary aides during 2026. Two bills currently before the House institutions committee propose increasing that number to 115 and revising salaries, which remain at pay scale A8.
Under existing legislation, parties are required to submit audited accounts to the Speaker of the House within ten months of the end of the financial year, detailing how state funding has been used.
The unresolved €2.6m question
Alongside the fresh inflow of public money, a long-running controversy remains unresolved: the recovery of €2.6 million in state subsidies deemed to have been paid unlawfully to parties.
The issue has evolved into a major political scandal. Despite findings by the Audit Office, parties have refused to return the funds, while the institutions tasked with safeguarding public money have failed to act decisively. For five years, the finance ministry, the Law Office and the House of Representatives have disputed responsibility for pursuing recovery.
In a report published last June, the Audit Office warned that continued inaction could result in the Republic of Cyprus permanently losing the funds, which should already be the subject of legal claims.
Although the Assistant Attorney General, Savvas Angelides, ruled that parties acted unlawfully by retaining the money, neither he nor Attorney General Giorgos Savvides has instructed the filing of civil lawsuits or the launch of criminal investigations. Responsibility has instead been passed back and forth between the House, the Law Office and the state’s accounting authorities.
Two cases of unlawful funding
Presidential election funding, 2018
According to the Audit Office, all eight parliamentary parties that received extraordinary state funding for the 2018 presidential election must return €2.09 million in unused subsidies. The €2.5m package was intended exclusively for campaign expenses, but parties allowed candidates to fund campaigns privately and retained public funds for operational costs, in breach of the law in force at the time.
Following public backlash, the Anastasiades government quietly absorbed the €2.5m extraordinary subsidy into the regular annual party funding, permanently increasing state support.
Regular funding for 2021
The Audit Office also found that €6.65m in regular funding for 2021 was distributed in February of that year based on 2016 election results, excluding parties that entered parliament after the May 2021 vote. Four parties were later asked to return €577,511 they were not entitled to receive.
Only AKEL has returned its share. Others dispute the obligation or have yet to be formally notified, while one party is under liquidation, complicating recovery efforts.