Cyprus Russians dispute Putin election results

A group of Russian citizens living in Cyprus have claimed that the disclosed results of their country’s presidential election in Cyprus were falsified.

It was reported last week that a total of 53,216 votes were cast on both sides of the island – 42,833 of which were cast for incumbent President Vladimir Putin.

However, a group by the name of the “Democratic Community of Russians Cyprus” disputes those figures.

They pointed out that the number of voters in Cyprus increased dramatically compared to previous elections, with there having been just 5,278 votes cast on the island in the 2018 election and 3,624 in the 2012 election.

The 2024 figures, therefore, would represent a tenfold increase in the number of votes cast in Cyprus compared to the previous election.

In addition, they said, Cyprus “made the biggest contribution to the results of the elections abroad compared to any other country”.

Cyprus was the only country outside of Russia where more than 50,000 votes were reported by Russia’s elections authority, with the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia the only other in which more than 20,000 votes were reported.

This, in addition to the fact that many countries saw significant reductions in the number of votes recorded in 2024 compared to 2018, raised suspicions.

They also claimed that the reported figures would have meant that over half the Russians living in Cyprus would have voted in the elections.

They stated their belief that there are fewer than 100,000 Russians living on the island, though this may be an underestimation.

The Russian embassy in Nicosia states that 120,000 Russians live in the Republic of Cyprus, while British newspaper the Guardian last year said 39,000 Russians have settled in the north.

In addition, American newspaper the Washington Post claimed in 2022 that 50,000 Russian and Ukrainian nationals had moved to Cyprus between February and October that year in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

With such figures, therefore, the number of votes cast would not be unprecedented, but would still be inconsistent with global trends and with previous voting figures recorded in Cyprus.

In addition to global trends, they also pointed to the lack of evidence of large numbers of Russians turning out to vote on the island.

More than 50,000 Russians turning out at polling stations in Ayia Napa, Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos, Nicosia and in the north would have likely led to visible queues outside polling stations – something which was not reported by local or international media.

As a result of this, they said, “support of Vladimir Putin among Russian citizens in Cyprus is not confirmed”, while they said “at least one administrative claim” has been filed to dispute the results.