Corruption, covid-19 and slow courts. These are some rule of law challenges Cyprus faces as citizens head to the polls to elect a new parliament on Sunday 30 May.
Major corruption scandals rocked Cyprus last year and continue to dominate the campaigns. We wrote last year about the impact of the ‘golden passport’ scheme creating a de facto bridge to EU citizenship. This has kept the rule of law as a key election issue claimed by every major party, regardless of party members’ past behaviour.
Despite these scandals, the governing centre-right Democratic Rally (DISY) party is still leading the polls ahead of the main left-wing opposition Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL), although just barely. After a year of continuous drops in the polls for DISY, both parties are in for a tight race.
Sunday’s vote will take place in person, as would normally be the case. While Cyprus introduced strict measures to fight covid-19 over the past year, voting procedures remain largely unaltered.
DRI’s Jil Prillwitz looks into one of the smallest – and too often overlooked – members of the European Union, talking with local experts to find out more about these challenges and what to expect from the elections.
Find out more at a glance in the overview below.
Democracy Reporting International (DRI) works to improve public understanding of the rule of law in the EU as part of the re:constitution programme funded by Stiftung Mercator. Sign up for DRI’s newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out more about the rule of law in Europe.
Photo credit: Sergei Gussev / CC BY 2.0
