A poll published by public broadcaster Rik news on Thursday night shows Disy and Akel heading the votes ahead of May’s parliamentary election with 17 and 16 per cent respectively, with Alma on Friday accusing Rik of repeatedly excluding it from panels.

According to Rik’s poll, Elam ranks third at 11 per cent, followed by former auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides’ Alma party with 9 per cent.

Approximately 6.5 per cent of the respondents expressed their support for the newly established political party of Youtuber and MEP Fidias Panayiotou, which was renamed  Direct Democracy of Cyprus this week, following an objection by the election office.

With 2.5 per cent, both Edek and the Ecologists Movement would currently fall short of the 3.6 per cent electoral threshold required to enter parliament.

Alma on Friday published a statement accusing Rik of the “repeated exclusion of its representatives and announcements”, harshly criticising the broadcaster for not inviting the party to the live broadcast of the poll presentation on Thursday night, despite ranking as the fourth strongest party.

“This is a conscious deception of public opinion,” Alma said.

It accused Rik of having allowed established parties to spread “propaganda alleging Alma has no positions and that it constitutes a danger to the functioning of the country’s political system”.

The party said Rik’s decision not to invite Alma to the presentation went beyond journalistic choices and damaged the pluralism that public radio and television ought to promote.

In addition, Rik sought the opinions of its total 1,213 respondents with regard to Cyprus’ collaboration with both Greece and Israel, thus unveiling a marked shift in public sentiment.

A significant proportion of respondents, 41 per cent, said that Cyprus could rely on Israel to strengthen its defence, in comparison to 9.5 per cent in a similar poll conducted in 2024.

Around one third, 27 per cent, said Greece was an important defence ally for the island – the figure having dropped from 45 per cent.

Britain was mentioned by only 1.5 per cent.

Rik also gathered public opinion on the widely discussed electricity interconnection between Greece and Cyprus (GSI), which was recently described as one of the three main pillars of the government’s energy strategy by President Nikos Christodoulides.

Of those asked, 48 per cent said they considered the project viable, whereas 32 per cent said it was impracticable and another 20 per cent said they had no opinion on the matter.

Responding to the – unspecified – question regarding the Republic’s current state of affairs, the majority of respondents expressed negative feelings with 31 per cent saying they were disappointed and 10 per cent they felt shame – the percentage having quintupled from 2 per cent in 2024.

Meanwhile, only 9 per cent expressed their optimism about the situation, while 6 per cent said they remained indifferent.

The survey included people eligible to vote above the age of 18. It was conducted through telephone interviews and a structured questionnaire between January 12 and 17.

The last parliamentary elections were held in Cyprus in 2021, when Disy and Akel led the polls with 27.8 per cent and 22.3 per cent, respectively. Elam had ranked fourth at 6.8 per cent in the elections, but received 11 per cent in Rik’s poll, doubling their votes.

Parliamentary elections will be held in Cyprus on May 24, 2026.

Voters can register for the electoral roll both in Cyprus and abroad on https://www.elections.gov.cy/moi/elections/elections.nsf/home/home?openform