Despite the scolding, the presidential camp wins the elections.

The conservative Disy party of Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades came on Sunday, May 30, at the top of the general elections in the Greek part of the island, with 27% of the vote, according to the official results published in the evening.

However, he lost a seat and will have to form a minority government, while the far right emerges from the election strengthened.

These elections took place amid popular anger after the scandal of the "golden passports", a program of granting passports for investments abolished because of allegations of corruption, exploited by the extreme right which emerges strengthened from the poll .

The Communist Party Akel won 22% of the vote while the ultra-nationalist Elam party doubled its representation from two to four MPs with 6.78% of the vote.

The Disy party lost a seat and therefore does not have a majority in Parliament, which will force President Anastasiades to form a minority government again.

More than 558,000 people were called upon to decide between 658 candidates, less than a quarter of whom were women, for this election held in the southern part of the island where the Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, exercises its authority.

The island has been divided since the 1974 invasion of the northern third by the Turkish army, in reaction to a coup attempt to reattach the island to Greece.

The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is recognized only by Ankara.

The turnout was 63.9%, against 66.7% in 2016. A rate deemed "satisfactory" in view of the health context by the returning officer Costas Constantinou.

European record for first-time asylum seekers

According to analysts, the various opposition parties failed to harness the electorate's anger against the government after the corruption scandal, allowing the Conservatives to stay ahead.

Controversial practice suspected of promoting corruption and money laundering, the device of "gold passports", issued against an investment of 2.5 million euros on the island to thousands of foreign citizens, has been criticized by European Union and abolished in November after an Al-Jazeera investigation into alleged abuses.

The Qatari channel's revelations led to the resignation of the Speaker of Parliament and an MP, who proclaimed their innocence after being filmed, according to Al-Jazeera, facilitating the obtaining of a passport for a man of Chinese business with a criminal history.

>> "Golden" passports and visas: a boon for organized crime?

The ultra-nationalists of Elam have surfed on the discontent of the population after this scandal, but also on fears about immigration to the Mediterranean island.

According to Eurostat, Cyprus holds the European record for first-time asylum seekers in relation to its population of less than one million inhabitants.

Last week, Cyprus declared itself in a "state of emergency" because of the influx of migrants from Syria.

For once, the question of the partition of the island was not at the heart of the debates.

Negotiations on reunification have stalled since 2017 and a meeting under the auspices of the UN in Geneva at the end of April failed to revive them.

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR