Coronavirus: Cypriots divided over handling of pandemic – poll

Seven out of ten Cypriots believe the country is heading in the wrong direction and are divided over the government’s handling of the pandemic, according to a poll published on Sunday in Politis.

Most of those surveyed looked positively on the first lockdown last March but they are now divided with 51 per cent saying they are satisfied with the situation and 49 per cent say they are not, and are tired of it.

The poll also found that despite the fact that epidemiologists and government officials blame the public for the ongoing restrictions by putting them down to violations, the poll found that 78 per cent said they were fully compliant with the measures such as mask use ands ending SMS. However, 16 per cent of those polled conceded they had violated one or other of the measures.

Seven out of ten people also believe the government is not doing enough to support companies affected by the lockdowns.

The poll also found that while people judged the president positively during the pandemic, his work as a whole has been judged negatively. To the question ‘how do you evaluate the work of the president so far?’ 60 per cent answer negatively or rather negatively, while only 38 per cent judge his work as being ‘positive’ or ‘rather positive’.

Overall, seven out of 10 think the country is heading in the wrong direction and are frustrated and disappointed, not only due to the pandemic but also in terms of corruption and the Cyprus issue. However, 21 per cent think the country is heading in the right direction.

There is widespread perception of corruption with 72 per cent saying it’s more widespread in recent years while 21 per cent think it’s the same as it’s always been, and 6 per cent think it’s less than it used to be.

As far as the Cyprus issue is concerned, almost everyone is disillusioned, with 92 per cent saying they are pessimistic there will be a solution in the next five years.

On the parliamentary elections, due to take place in May, none of the political parties scored very well, and even though ruling Disy was the favourite, it only managed to see 18.7 per cent support among those polled.

Main opposition Akel came in second with 12.8 per cent, Diko 7 per cent and the remainder around 3 per cent each.

One in ten of those polled say they would vote for another party if there was an alternative while 25.2 per cent are currently undecided and 12.5 per cent said they would cast a blank vote.

The survey of 705 people over the age of 18 islandwide was conducted by Interview over the phone and on Zoom between January 20 and 25.