IN THE wake of April’s referenda to decide the island’s future, Sunday’s Euro elections contained mixed signals for the smaller parties, raising concerns for some while sending optimistic messages for others.
Nevertheless, there were no clear-cut conclusions to be drawn from the results, even for parties who increased their percentages noticeably. For example, while socialists EDEK gained three percentage points on the last parliamentary elections, disappointment set in as the party failed to elect a representative to the European Parliament by a margin of just 37 votes; the seat was instead taken up by newcomers Coalition for Europe, the grouping formed recently by a number of DISY dissidents.
To EDEK insiders, it felt like their party had been robbed of their seat, which had been taken for granted — at least before the Coalition for Europe entered the fray.
Late on Sunday night, the socialists asked for a recount, but their request was turned down by the chief returning officer; the party say they plan to appeal the decision.
But for all their success as rookies, the splinter group led by Matsis probably received less than anticipated. Initial estimates placed their support at as much as 15 per cent; the assumption being that a large section of DISY supporters would flock to the Coalition because of their disenchantment with the mother party’s stance on the Cyprus issue. But this did not come about, as the group secured just 10.80 per cent, meaning the leakage from DISY was far less than expected.
Moreover, the high rallying effect demonstrated by the DISY base means that a large proportion of the Coalition’s votes must have come from other small parties. In fact, the United Democrats and the Greens were the most hard-hit.
The Greens’ dismal performance prompted George Perdikis to declare “we’ve been wiped out” and resign his position as party chairman. And the United Democrats’ George Vassiliou said he was baffled by the results.
Perdikis himself attributed the whitewash to the fact the elections were dominated by the DISY spat, leaving little time for public debate on “European issues”.
And a similar fate was reserved for the New Horizons party, which suffered a serious blow despite being at the forefront of the camp rejecting the Annan plan.
Ruling DIKO presents the most intriguing case; despite banking on the President’s popularity and the resounding ‘no’ vote in the April referendum, some number-crunching shows the party failed to capitalise on these two factors, essentially maintaining its percentages recorded in the 2001 general elections. DIKO was aligned with the ADIK party, but the combined force gathered just 17 per cent, almost exactly the same as the sum of the two in 2001.
DIKO’s deputy chairman Nikos Cleanthous interpreted the outcome as “a boost to the party’s mandate” and said he was optimistic about the “next day”.
Still, despite the mayhem wreaked on the political landscape due to the volatility of the vote, any conclusions would be premature. As shown by the relatively low turnout, the results of Sunday’s elections cannot be used as a benchmark for the parties’ future.
