Little change was recorded among the parties expected to be the largest in the next parliament in the latest poll published ahead of the forthcoming election, though among the smaller parties, Volt appears to be gathering momentum, while social media influencer Fidias Panayiotou’s Direct Democracy Cyprus looks to be on the slide.

The poll was conducted by newspaper Kathimerini and published over the weekend, with Disy forecast to remain the largest party in the next parliament, with 20.4 per cent of the vote.

Disy and Akel have occupied the top two spots in every parliamentary election since 1985, and Akel are, according to the poll, forecast to come in second place later this month, with 18.5 per cent of the vote.

Elam are expected to be the third largest party in the next parliament, with Kathimerini’s poll aligning with every single poll since October 2024 on this point and forecasting the party to win 12.6 per cent of the vote.

Beyond this widely expected top three, however, the poll differs from those which have come before it.

Pollsters have been split over whether Direct Democracy Cyprus, established by Panayiotou last year, or Alma, established by former auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides last year, will finish in fourth place.

While Kathimerini have forecast that Alma will place in fourth, winning 8.9 per cent of the vote, it has not predicted Direct Democracy Cyprus to be hot on Michaelides’ heels.

In fifth place instead is Diko, which is forecast to win 7.4 per cent of the vote. Fifth is higher than most pollsters have predicted Diko to finish thus far, but such a result would still be the worst parliamentary electoral result in the party’s 50-year history.

Direct Democracy Cyprus finds itself in sixth place with just 5.7 per cent of the vote – the worst polling figure recorded by the party since its establishment.

In seventh place is Volt, which is forecast to win 4.2 per cent of the vote, more than doubling its proportion of the vote compared to the previous Kathimerini poll, published in December last year, and now looking set to win a small number of seats, where previously it looked on course to not.

Beyond those seven parties, it looks unlikely that any others will win seats, with Diko therefore set to be the only party which supports the government not to face an electoral wipeout, despite itself being on course for the worst result in its history.

Edek has been forecast to win just 2.3 per cent – a result which would also be the worst result in the party’s 56-year history – and Dipa just 1.2 per cent, after having won 6.1 per cent of the vote at its first parliamentary election last time out.

Those two parties sandwich the Ecologists’ Movement, which sits in ninth place, with 2.1 per cent of the vote, and looks set to not return a member to parliament for the first time since 1996.

Other parties recorded as having voters in the poll were the Hunters’ Movement, which is forecast to win 1.2 per cent of the vote, with “Sikou Pano!” – founded in January, and with a name which means “Get Up!” in Cypriot Greek – forecast to win exactly one per cent of the vote.

The Democratic National Movement, led by Andreas Themistocleous, who has sat in parliament as a member of both Disy and Elam, and as an independent, is forecast to win 0.5 per cent of the vote, while Demal, led by former bar association chairman Christos Clerides, is forecast to win 0.1 per cent of the vote.

A total of 56 seats will be up for election later this month, of which 19 will belong to MPs from the Nicosia district, 12 to MPs from the Limassol district, 11 to MPs from the Famagusta district, six to MPs from the Larnaca district, five to MPs from the Paphos district, and three to MPs from the Kyrenia district.

The Paphos district gained an extra seat ahead of May’s election due to the growth in its voting population, with that gain coming at the Nicosia district’s expense.