Tensions between Dipa and the Presidential Palace escalated on Tuesday after senior party figure Marinos Cleanthous accused members of President Nikos Christodoulides’ cadre of supporting rival parties during the parliamentary election campaign, contributing to Dipa’s exclusion from parliament.

Speaking to Radio Astra on Tuesday, the Dipa vice president said there had been “a game enacted by some who are close to the presidential circles” which “operated in a way that is certainly not positive towards Dipa”.

He said the party was assessing the reasons behind its electoral defeat and argued that actions by figures aligned with the president had “played out the specific result to the detriment of Dipa”.

Cleanthous stopped short of directly accusing the president or his office of targeting Dipa but claimed individuals within presidential camp openly favoured collaboration with candidates from other parties, including Elam, Disy and Diko.

“I’m not saying they fought Diko but rather that they helped candidates who were in other parties,” he said.

“Cyprus is small and we are aware of the friendships and sympathies that at times seem to exist from presidential circles towards others.”

The remarks mark the sharpest public criticism directed at Christodoulides by a senior Dipa official since Sunday’s election, in which the party failed to secure representation in the House after receiving 3.1 per cent of the vote.

Cleanthous argued that Dipa had paid “a disproportionately large cost” for supporting the government and suggested that some within the president’s political orbit had prioritised longer term electoral calculations ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

“Some threatened their position or posed greater dilemmas,” he said.

“They seem to have achieved more dynamic support for themselves.” In a separate statement, he described such behaviour as “rather dishonest”.

He also pointed to voting patterns in specific areas, including Yeroskippou, claiming that ballot box results reflected unusual movements in support towards other parties.

“You can open the ballot box of Yeroskippou and see what phenomena there were,” he said.

The accusations came despite President Christodoulides publicly expressing sympathy for Dipa following the election result.

On Sunday evening, he said Dipa and Edek “deserved to be in parliament” and had missed out “by tens or hundreds of votes”.

The president nevertheless described the election outcome as a democratic endorsement of his government’s broader policies, including economic management, migration policy and foreign affairs.

Government deputy spokesman Yiannis Antoniou offered a differening explanation for Dipa’s collapse, saying the absence of party leader Marios Garoyian from the candidate list had weakened the party’s electoral momentum.