The number of parliamentary seats per district was finalized in the afternoon, with indications that one seat will shift from Nicosia to Paphos. The electoral roll updates at the District Administrations will be completed next Tuesday, but the final decision rests with the political parties, since a legal amendment is required. In Paphos district, DISY emerged as the leading party in both the 2024 European and 2021 parliamentary elections.
According to the Law on the Election of Members of the House of Representatives, Article 4 provides that “the distribution of parliamentary seats per electoral district is determined in the First Table, but may be rearranged by an amending law, based on the number of registered voters in each electoral district as recorded in the roll, which includes the supplementary register of 2 October of the year prior to the election.”
As the law currently stands, the allocation is as follows:
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Nicosia district – 20 seats
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Limassol district – 12 seats
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Famagusta district – 11 seats
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Larnaca district – 6 seats
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Paphos district – 4 seats
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Kyrenia district – 3 seats
Final count awaits Parliament’s approval
The distribution of parliamentary seats for the May 2026 elections was locked yesterday based on the number of registered voters on the roll as of 2 pm.
From this morning, District Administrations began processing the electoral roll: adding new voters, removing the deceased, and updating addresses where requested. Once this is complete, the figures will be sent to the Election Service of the Interior Ministry for the final tally.
If the current indications are confirmed, and one seat does move from Nicosia to Paphos, the Interior Ministry will then consult Parliament to see if the required majority exists to amend the legislation and implement the redistribution.
Such a change could be introduced either by a government bill or by a private member’s bill.
Who Gains from the Shifted Seat?
Parties will run their calculations and decide whether they support the redistribution from Nicosia to Paphos.
Nothing can be predicted in advance, especially since the new party Alma – Citizens for Cyprus of Odysseas Michaelides will also be contesting. A recent poll suggested the party is already recording double-digit support.
According to the Stratego-IMR poll published by Kathimerini, if elections were held last Sunday, AKEL would receive 21%, DISY 20%, ELAM 14%, Alma 11%, and DIKO 8%.
Elections in Paphos
In Paphos district, which could gain a fifth seat if Parliament agrees, the 2024 European election results were:
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Feidias Panayiotou – 22.49% (8,994 votes)
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DISY – 18.34% (7,335 votes)
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DIKO – 15.13% (6,049 votes)
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AKEL – 13.87% (5,548 votes)
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EDEK – 11.71% (4,681 votes)
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ELAM – 11.46% (4,583 votes)
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Volt Cyprus – 2.12% (847 votes)
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DIPA – 1.78% (711 votes)
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Greens – 0.98% (391 votes)
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Active Citizens & Hunters Movement – 0.94% (376 votes)
Registered voters in Paphos: 58,705. Turnout: 45,530 (77.56%). Abstention: 13,175 (22.44%). Invalid ballots: 1,024 (2.25%). Blank ballots: 4,520 (9.93%).
Results of the 2021 parliamentary elections in Paphos were:
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DISY – 29.88% (9,650 votes)
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DIKO – 18.47% (5,967 votes)
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AKEL – 17.15% (5,539 votes)
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EDEK – 13.29% (4,293 votes)
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ELAM – 7.31% (2,360 votes)
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DIPA – 3.67% (1,185 votes)
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Greens – 3.57% (1,153 votes)
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Active Citizens & Hunters Movement – 2.58% (834 votes)
Registered voters in 2021: 45,050. Turnout: 32,873 (72.97%). Abstention: 12,177 (27.03%). Invalid ballots: 435 (1.32%). Blank ballots: 140 (0.43%).