The party scene appears to be radically changing ahead of May’s parliamentary elections, according to the opinion poll published by the CyBC on Thursday. While Disy and Akel remain the best-supported parties taking 17 and a 16 per cent respectively, and Elam in third place (11 per cent) two fledgling parties that have never taken part in elections appear set to upset the old regime.

According to the poll, the party of former auditor-general, Odysseas Michaelides, Alma, could secure as much as 9 per cent of the vote and MEP Fidias Panayiotou’s Direct Democracy 6.5 per cent. The party name was rejected by the elections service and will now be known as Direct Democracy of Cyprus. Regardless of the name it still recorded half a percentage point more than Diko which is now the sixth strongest party.

In the last parliamentary elections in 2021, Diko was the third strongest party, electing twice as many deputies as Elam, despite also competing with Dipa which was made up of party defectors. Its support appears to have collapsed as has that of Edek (2.5 per cent) and Dipa. In short, the three parties that had backed the candidacy of Nikos Christodoulides in the presidential elections, together now, command 9.5 per cent of the vote, with a real possibility of Edek and Dipa not entering parliament in May. Backing the president appears to have had a high cost for the three parties.

The most impressive showing was that of Alma, which saw its support increase from six per cent in November to nine per cent in January. It is difficult to see the party as anything more than a personal vehicle for Michaelides, one that will help him achieve his presidential ambitions. Being a personal vehicle and having no ideological character means that Alma is able to draw support from all the other parties, something it has been doing successfully.

The Fidias party is also exceeding expectations, although it is difficult to know what it actually stands for and why 6.5 per cent of the electorate would consider voting for it. Alma has an anti-corruption stance which appeals to voters, but what has Direct Democracy of Cyprus have to offer? Panayiotou seems much more interested in self-promoting gimmicks than in engaging in political debate or promoting political positions. Despite having nothing tangible to offer, Panayiotou’s party is still more popular than traditional parties with a parliamentary presence. Nobody will underestimate Direct Democracy, after what happened in the European parliament elections.

There are more than three months before the parliamentary elections and things could still change during this time. The parties with the momentum are the two newly created ones, but they could run out of steam by May. The real challenge is for the traditional small parties, because the elections could confirm what many have suspected – that they are in terminal decline.