How Cyprus funds its parties, and what 2026 exposed

Politics partiespolicypress How Cyprus funds its parties, and what 2026 exposed Twenty Seven Mps Leave Parliament With Gratuities Of Up To €250,000 Relevant News How Cyprus funds its parties, and what 2026 exposed 24 August 2026 What If Mark Zuckerberg Is Right? 24 August 2026 Road deaths reach 26 in Cyprus this year, more than half motorcyclists 24 August 2026 Newsroom 24 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber This news piece was first published on policypress.cy By Nectaria Georgiadou, Frixos Stephanides Cyprus’ parliamentary parties received €11,387,906 in public money in 2025. The amount was distributed through five separate funding categories: the general state grant, salaries for parliamentary aides, funding for party youth organisations, contributions to European political parties, and €100,000 for outreach and information activities abroad. The figure is significant not only because of its size, but because of how the funding is distributed. The main state grant is paid in January and is calculated on the basis of the previous parliamentary election. In 2026, this meant that parties received funding based on the 2021 election result, four months before voters went back to the polls. That timing has now created a familiar problem. Three parties received their full 2026 grant before losing their parliamentary representation in May, while two new parties entered Parliament and subsequently received advances against future funding. How the money is distributed Of the €11,387,906 paid in 2025, €6,649,447 was the general state grant. Under Article 4 of the Political Parties Law (L.175(I)/2012), 15% of the regular funding is distributed equally among parliamentary parties, while the remaining 85% is allocated according to the vote shares recorded at the previous parliamentary election. In 2025, DISY received €1,980,176, AKEL €1,620,844, DIKO €889,607, ELAM €591,156, EDEK €587,186, DIPA €546,157 and the Greens €434,321. Parties are required to submit audited accounts detailing the amount and management of the state funding they receive. The second-largest category consists of €4,290,085 for the salaries of 101 parliamentary aides. The state also provided €314,640 to party youth organisations and €33,734 to cover contributions by Cypriot parliamentary parties to their corresponding European political parties. A further €100,000 was allocated for outreach and information activities outside Cyprus, intended to promote the Republic of Cyprus’ official positions on aspects of the Cyprus problem and the continuing impact of the Turkish occupation on displaced persons. Of this amount, €15,000 was divided equally among the parliamentary parties and €85,000 according to their 2021 vote shares. Unlike the main state grant, parties are not required to provide supporting documentation showing how this particular funding is spent, and no specific criteria or conditions are prescribed for its disbursement. Why the 2026 election matters The funding formula explains why the general grant remained effectively unchanged between 2024 and 2025. The overall amount is fixed by the Council of Ministers, while the distribution continues to reflect the 2021 parliamentary election. The problem appears when the political landscape changes before the funding cycle does. In January 2026, the parties received their annual funding based on the previous electoral balance. Four months later, the 24 May 2026 election produced a new House. DISY won 17 seats with 27.1% of the vote, AKEL 15 seats with 23.9%, ELAM and DIKO 8 seats each with 10.9% and 10%, while ALMA and Direct Democracy entered Parliament with 4 seats each, receiving 5.8% and 5.4% respectively. EDEK, DIPA and the Greens lost their parliamentary representation. The three departing parties had nevertheless already received their full 2026 grants. DIPA received approximately €546,000, while EDEK received approximately €587,000. This is not the first time the timing of the payment has created difficulties. In 2021, the state also paid the annual grant before the parliamentary election, leading to a dispute over €577,511 after the election changed the parliamentary balance. The €2.6 million dispute The 2021 issue formed part of a larger claim of approximately €2.6 million. Some €2,091,200 related to funding allocated for the 2018 presidential election campaign but subsequently used for operational expenses. A further €577,511 related to the 2021 parliamentary grant. The recovery process was never resolved. The Attorney General and Finance Ministry took the position that Parliament would have to pursue recovery through legal action or withholding future grants, while Parliament maintained that it did not have the necessary jurisdiction. The Auditor General called for the 2026 grant to be frozen until the issue was clarified, warning of the possibility of a permanent loss of public money. On 23 January 2026, however, the Attorney General concluded that legal action against the parties was not advisable because there were serious doubts about the prospects of recovery. The 2026 grants were subsequently released without conditions. The European Commission’s 2026 Rule of Law Report also recorded the difficulties surrounding the recovery or redistribution of the earlier funds. New parties face the opposite situation The 2026 election also created two new parliamentary parties, ALMA and Direct Democracy. In June, arrangements were made for approximately €320,000 each to be advanced to the two parties. These payments are advances against future entitlements and are to be recovered through five equal annual deductions. The purpose is to give the new parties immediate resources to establish offices and employ staff, rather than making them wait for the normal funding cycle. This creates an unusual contrast within the same system. Parties that lost their parliamentary representation had already received their annual funding, while parties that gained representation were able to draw forward part of their future funding. Whether these two mechanisms are being reconciled within the 2026 funding envelope remains a question for the House treasury. The wider transparency issue Party funding also extends beyond the direct grant. In 2025, the state spent €4,290,085 on 101 parliamentary aides. The system originally involved examinations and interviews, but appointments are now made directly by MPs and parties on the basis that aides must enjoy the confidence of those they support. Minimum qualifications apply and close relatives cannot be employed. The outgoing House also considered increasing the number of parliamentary aides from 100 to 115 and changing their salary structure shortly before dissolution. The available reporting establishes that the bills were tabled for the final plenary sitting, but confirmation that all three were enacted, and in what form, still requires checking the Official Gazette and the House record. The wider oversight record also raises questions. Audit Office reviews have identified contributions above legal limits, discrepancies between contribution registers and annual financial statements, and problems with independent auditing and disclosure requirements. GRECO has also stated limited progress in Cyprus on recommendations concerning transparency in party funding. What happens next? The immediate test will be the campaign finance statements from the May 2026 election. Under the amended Political Parties Law, parties must submit their campaign income and expenditure statements within four months of polling day, after which they are audited and published by the Auditor General. There is also a broader question about whether the funding system itself needs to change. The 2026 election has exposed a structural tension: public funding is paid before voters decide who will sit in Parliament, while the main distribution formula continues to rely on the previous election result. The same issue produced a recovery dispute in 2021, and that dispute was effectively closed in 2026. For the new parliamentary term, the question is therefore not simply how much public money political parties receive. It is whether the system ensures that public funding follows clear rules, remains properly connected to democratic representation and can be fully accounted for when the political landscape changes. Sources: Treasury of the Republic, CyLaw, Politis, Cyprus Mail, European Commission (2026 Rule of Law Report), Audit Office of the Republic, Council of Europe (GRECO party funding transparency assessments), OSCE/ODIHR (2026 Cyprus Parliamentary Elections Needs Assessment Mission Report). Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News What If Mark Zuckerberg Is Right? Road deaths reach 26 in Cyprus this year, more than half motorcyclists Larnaca DLGO mourns employee killed in motorcycle crash, post-mortem confirms cause of death Latchi is changing – my thought of the day National Guard to design and build small drones through new lab Flight Safety Foundation condemns unauthorised Turkish incursions into Nicosia FIR Third suspect, 34, arrested and remanded in Paphos attack on delivery drivers Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.