Fidias Panayiotou will not be taking up his seat in the House of Representatives, the MEP confirmed on Monday, notifying the Interior Ministry that he is renouncing his parliamentary mandate and remaining in the European Parliament.
Panayiotou was Direct Democracy Cyprus’s top-ranked candidate in Nicosia, having secured 5,108 votes.
The party won four seats in Sunday’s elections, in which DISY came first with 17 seats, followed by AKEL with 15, ELAM and DIKO with eight each, and ALMA with four.
With Panayiotou stepping aside, his seat passes to Yiannis Laouris, who was the party’s second-placed candidate in the Nicosia district.
Speaking shortly before the ceremony to proclaim the newly elected MPs, Panayiotou said he would remain in Brussels because it was better for Direct Democracy to maintain a presence in the European Parliament. He acknowledged the party could have performed better but described the result as a small victory.
“With one MEP and four MPs it is a good start. We will see which committees we will pursue, but we will work that out with the other parties. We will cooperate with everyone — I will not say whether anyone has approached us,” he said.
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