Cabinet will likely next week discuss planned changes to the police protection offered to high-ranking politicians, with some amendments coming about due to changes in parliament’s makeup following May’s election, and Justice Minister Costas Fitiris reportedly minded to modernise the service.

At present, House president Annita Demetriou has a police entourage comprising 10 officers. When she was first elected to the role in 2021, she was initially assigned eight officers but then asked that this be reduced to five. She also refused to be assigned a second police vehicle and requested that the vehicle she was assigned not have blue lights.

However, after she received an email claiming that an assassination attempt was being planned against her, a further five police officers were assigned to protect her and now guard her house.

Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou and Diko leader Nicholas Papadopoulos are protected by four police officers apiece, while Edek leader Nikos Anastasiou is protected by three.

Elam leader Christos Christou, Dipa leader and former House president Marios Garoyian, as well as fellow former House presidents Demetris Syllouris and Yiannakis Omirou, and Archbishop Georgios, are protected by two police officers each.

Former president Nicos Anastasiades is protected by a detail of 12 police officers, while his house in Limassol is guarded by police officers 24 hours a day.

Additionally, former first ladies Elsa Christofia and Androulla Vassiliou are assigned a single police officer, while former first lady Fotini Papadopoulou renounced her police protection in 2011.

Next week, it is expected that the government will assign police protection to Alma leader Odysseas Michaelides and Direct Democracy Cyprus leader Fidias Panayiotou, though in the latter’s case, “special” provisions may have to be made as he retains his seat as a member of the European Parliament and as such spends most of his time in Brussels.

With Elam having doubled its number of seats from four to eight, it is expected that Christou will have his protection detail doubled from two to four officers, while Anastasiou is set to lose his police protection, given that Edek no longer has any MPs.

Dipa, too, lost all its seats in parliament, but Garoyian will maintain his police protection in his capacity as a former House president.

Ecologists’ Movement leader Stavros Papadouris did not have police protection prior to the election as the party had requested in 2020 that its leaders not be protected by the police.

Looking ahead, newspaper Politis has reported that Fitiris has requested that the 24-hour protection of his home to which he is entitled in his capacity as a minister be replaced with smart CCTV cameras.

As such, it has been suggested that other current and former state officials could, in the future, see their police protection reduced and replaced by CCTV cameras.