Unregulated social media campaigning, weak campaign finance oversight and the exclusion of independent observers were among the concerns raised by international monitors ahead of Cyprus’s parliamentary elections, which took place on Sunday, according to a report published in March by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The report, produced following a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) to Nicosia in December 2025, stopped short of recommending a full observation mission, instead calling for the deployment of an Election Expert Team to assess the conduct of campaigning, campaign finance, institutional preparedness on disinformation, accessibility for persons with disabilities and the participation of women and other underrepresented groups.
The two-person team, comprising Senior Election Adviser Kseniya Dashutsina and Election Adviser Martina Barker-Ciganikova, met with officials from state institutions, political parties, media and civil society during the December visit.
Sunday’s vote produced a fragmented result, with six parties winning seats and several established parties failing to cross the threshold for parliamentary representation.
A fragmented and shifting political landscape
The report described a political environment shaped by growing socio-economic pressures, voter disillusionment and the emergence of new political forces. Some 28 parties were registered in Cyprus at the time of the mission, 11 of them formed within the previous two years. The report noted that all interlocutors highlighted the result of the 2024 European Parliament elections, in which independent candidate Fidias Panayiotou, a well-known TikToker and YouTuber, finished third with 19.4% of the vote, winning a seat in the European Parliament.
Political parties told the mission that campaigning would focus on socio-economic issues, in particular housing, the cost of living and immigration, as well as efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem. The report noted that following the election of Tufan Erhürman as Turkish Cypriot leader in October 2025, both sides announced in November their readiness to discuss the potential for relaunching long-stalled peace talks.
Social media: a regulatory vacuum
The report identified the lack of regulation of online campaigning as one of the most significant concerns raised by interlocutors. Campaigning on social networks and online media is entirely unregulated in Cyprus, and the body responsible for supervising the EU’s Digital Services Act, the Radio Television and Digital Services Authority (RTDSA), was only assigned its new competences in July 2025. The report noted that the RTDSA operated with just two staff members and described it as severely under-resourced and lacking sufficient capacity to carry out its functions.
The scale of the challenge is underlined by the findings of a 2025 Eurobarometer survey cited in the report, which found that 76% of Cypriots rely on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for their daily news intake, surpassing traditional media. Several interlocutors raised concerns about the spread of disinformation during the campaign, and while the report noted general awareness of foreign interference as a global threat, it found that no special task force or coordination mechanism had been established to counter disinformation ahead of the elections.
The report also flagged concerns about media ownership concentration. Cyprus fell to 76th place on the World Press Freedom Index in 2025, down from 65th in 2024 and 55th in 2023. Interlocutors noted that ownership concentration, combined with the influence of commercial interests, risked undermining editorial independence.
Campaign finance: gaps in transparency and oversight
The report found that the legal framework governing campaign finance remained largely unchanged since the 2021 elections, with prior ODIHR recommendations on transparency, accountability and oversight capacity left unaddressed.
Individual candidates faced a spending cap of €30,000, but no overall expenditure limit applied to political parties. Private donations to parties were capped at €50,000 annually, but there was no cap on direct donations to individual candidates. The report noted that candidates benefited from campaign activities organised and financed by their parties, with the related expenditure not counted against the candidates’ own spending limits.
There were no provisions for interim financial reporting. Candidates and parties were required to submit expenditure reports to the General Returning Officer within two and four months of the publication of results respectively, with the Auditor General then conducting a review focused primarily on advertising expenses.
The report noted that its interlocutors expressed confidence in the impartiality of the Audit Office but said the current legal framework provided ample opportunities to circumvent the applicable provisions. It also noted that the previous Auditor General had been removed from his post by a Supreme Court decision citing, among other issues, inappropriate conduct in office.
No room for independent observers
The report highlighted that Cyprus has no legal provisions for citizen or international election observation, a situation it described as contrary to OSCE commitments and prior ODIHR recommendations. Only candidate and party representatives had the right to be present in polling stations during voting and counting, and access to tabulation centres was restricted to civil servants. Many interlocutors told the mission that independent observers were not needed given the high level of public trust in the process.
Legal reforms delayed
The report acknowledged that parliament unanimously passed several electoral amendments in the first half of 2025, including lowering the minimum voting age from 18 to 17 and introducing automatic voter registration. However, it noted that these reforms will not take effect until July 2027 and will be applicable for the first time only at the 2028 presidential election.
As of October 2, 2025, there were 561,253 registered voters. For the last time, voter registration remained active and compulsory for these elections, with citizens over 25 required to attend an interview with district authorities to register. The report noted that interlocutors welcomed the upcoming automatic registration reform, describing the current active registration requirements as burdensome.
Women underrepresented
The report noted that women held just eight of the 56 seats in the outgoing parliament, or 14.3%, and two of 11 ministerial posts in the government. It found that the legislation provided no gender quotas for candidate nominations or party lists, though several parties said they applied internal quotas of their own. The report cited UN human rights committee observations calling on Cyprus to consider adopting statutory quotas and gender parity systems for nominations.
Election administration praised
Despite its concerns, the report found broad confidence in the integrity and professionalism of Cyprus’s election administration. All interlocutors expressed a high level of trust in the Ministry of Interior, which held overall responsibility for organising elections, and in the conduct of election day procedures. The report noted that electronic transmission of results, tested during the 2024 European Parliament elections, was used again on Sunday, though paper-based protocols remain the official record.
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