Direct Democracy of Cyprus formally submitted its 56 parliamentary candidacies on Wednesday, completing the official registration process ahead of the 24 May elections in what marks the party's first-ever participation in a general election. Party president Fidias Panayiotou, the 26-year-old MEP who founded the movement and heads its Nicosia ballot, used the occasion to call for a sweeping rejection of what he described as a political culture of patronage and stagnation.
"We are tired of seeing a society of connections and favours, of seeing politicians arguing, of seeing the world move forward while politics stays the same," Panayiotou said after filing his candidacy. He criticised the division of political forces along ideological lines and the use of hollow political language, and argued that Direct Democracy understands society's needs precisely because of its distance from traditional political structures.
Born from the crowd
The party's 56 candidates were selected through an internal online vote conducted on the digital platform Agora, a participatory mechanism that has become central to Direct Democracy's identity as a movement distinct from conventional party politics. A total of 212 citizens initially expressed interest in standing, and 16,080 people voted in the selection process out of approximately 38,000 who had downloaded and registered on the app. Panayiotou himself topped the Nicosia internal vote with 1,917 votes.
The party was formally constituted in late 2025 and elected Panayiotou as its first president on 22 March 2026, with 56.79% of the internal vote. Diana Konstantinidou was appointed vice president.
Candidates by district
In Nicosia, where 19 seats are at stake, the party fields 19 candidates. Panayiotou heads the list, followed by Giannis Laouris, Nikos Louka (widely known by his nickname "Loukanikos"), Elena Mitella, Yasoumis Yasoumi, Marios Stavrou, Minas Giorkas, Rafael Nikolaou, Marina Georgiou, Ioannis Damianos, Kypros Portokalidis, Marios Panagi, Monica Sophocleous, Marios Therapontos, Lambros Ioannou, Baret Kostanian, Loizos Chrysanthou, Andreas Pingas and Michalakis Michael.
In Limassol, where 12 seats are up for election, the list is headed by Dimitris Souglis, followed by Kostakis Antoniou, Giannis Tsitsis, Fotis Fotiou (known as Zorpas), Avraham Themistocleous, Marios Choglastos, Sotiris Nikolaou, Andreas Kleovoulou, Kleoniki Ioannou, Dimitra Chatzistaurou, Maria Loizou and Panagiotis Sophocleous.
The Famagusta list covers 11 seats. Candidates include Christos Adamou, Anastasios Anastasiou, Savvas Armenakis, Kyprianous Varnava, Andreas Varosiatis, Andreas Kazanos, Diana Konstantinidou, Eleni Menelaou, Stylianos Papachristophorou, Dimitris Patsias and Nikolas Flourentzou.
In Larnaca, the six-candidate list features Vasilios Thrasyvoulou, Foivos Doukanaris, Stefanos Christodoulou, Nektaria Konstantinidou, Georgia Petrou and one further candidate.
In Paphos, the five-candidate list includes Dimitris Baros, Nikos Palios, Fidias Stokkos, Andreas Siaelis and Alfredos Alfredou.
In Kyrenia, where three seats are allocated, the party fields Konstantinos Kyprianou, who topped the district's internal vote with 223 votes, alongside Valeri Tarapai and one further candidate.
The stakes
Direct Democracy enters the 24 May race as one of the most closely watched new entrants in this election cycle, though for reasons that set it apart from Alma, the other major newcomer. While Alma is built around a former senior civil servant with a technocratic reform agenda, Direct Democracy's appeal is rooted in the personal following Panayiotou built as a YouTuber before his surprise election to the European Parliament in June 2024, when he won 19.4% of the vote and one of Cyprus's six MEP seats as an independent. Current polling aggregates project the party winning approximately five seats in the new parliament, which would immediately make it a significant presence in a highly fragmented House. Panayiotou, who is 26 years old and was born in the village of Meniko in the Nicosia district, is the son of a Church of Cyprus priest.
