THE RESULTS of the Euro elections held over the weekend have been widely interpreted as signalling a shift to the right side of the political spectrum in the 736 seat EU Parliament.
While it may be a generalisation, the fact is that the majority of seats are held by a block composed of the main, centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), of which Cyprus contributed two members, as well as a strong contingent of Independent, far right and non-aligned Euro-sceptic parliamentarians. Social Democrats have been comprehensively labelled as the big losers of the election, far left groups have retained a relatively static proportion and the Greens have done slightly better than in 2004.
The results of the Cypriot elections were again not too surprising here in Cyprus, though overall they did not follow the rest of the EU’s broader movement to the right.
Of the six MEPs that were chosen, only Ioannis Kasoulides and Eleni Theocharous will go on to join a right-leaning party, the EPP, with the other four joining either the liberals, socialists or far left groups.
This is hardly a change from the 2004 parliament configuration, except for the liberals losing one of their two seats held by Cypriot MEPs to the socialists, who previously did not have a representative from Cyprus but now can enjoy the company of Antigoni Papadopoulou.
So, the only Cypriot MEPs to retain their actual seats in the EU Parliament were Kyriakos Triantaphyllides from AKEL and Kasoulides of DISY. Kasoulides can also pride himself as having achieved the highest amount of votes ever recorded by a Cypriot MEP.
While no big surprises emerged on the political front, the fact that a third of Cypriot MEPs are now female is quite a milestone, and marks the first time Cyprus will be represented in the European parliament by women at all. Another cultural brownie-point scored by Cyprus was the election of Marina Yannakoudakis, a British Conservative MEP from London with Cypriot heritage.
The ‘big surprise’ to the election commission was of course the low turnout, the scale of which was unprecedented in Cyprus’ voting history and which caused Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides to express clear disappointment at peoples’ apparent disinterest with the political system. Other segments of the political world were quick to point the finger in the direction of the seaside as a possible cause of the 41 per cent abstention rate, while others highlighted the indifference of young people and the “lack of a European agenda during the campaigns” as the main causes of the lapse.
Whatever the cause, voter turnout was above the European average, which at 43 per cent set a record as the lowest ever since elections began in 1979. The country that managed to acquire the top spot in terms of biggest indifference to the elections was Slovakia, which recorded a turnout of just 14 per cent. Malta yet again displayed its prowess in relation to getting to the polls, with a commendable 80 per cent turnout.
