ALMA and Direct Democracy Cyprus are set to receive an advance of around €300,000 each from the state, following their entry into the House of Representatives at the May 24 elections — the first application of a newly amended Political Parties Law designed to give newly elected parties immediate liquidity.
According to Phileleftheros sources, the advance corresponds to seven-twelfths of each party’s estimated annual state grant, which is calculated to be around €500,000. The House Audit Office has already begun calculating the amounts due, and both parties will need to submit a formal request. The €300,000 advance will be deducted from each party’s future state funding in five equal annual instalments.
The amendment was introduced to prevent newly elected parties from going without any state support between June and December — a situation that had previously left some parties unable to function — and to avoid a repeat of the 2021 episode in which €2.6 million in state grants were paid illegally to four parties. That money was never recovered, nor redistributed to other parties.
What the law provides
Under the Political Parties Law, a non-parliamentary party that becomes parliamentary at a general election may, in the month following the election, request a portion of the state funding corresponding to the period from that month to the end of the year, calculated in proportion to its election result, on condition that the amount is deducted in five equal annual instalments from the state funding it is entitled to receive in each of the following years until the next general election.
The law also provides that if no relevant credits are included in the state budget, the Fiscal Responsibility Law will apply.
Parties that lost their seats
EDEK, DIPA and the Ecologists, despite losing their seats, will not be required to return the remainder of their 2026 state grant. Under the amended legislation, routine party funding is paid each January in five equal annual instalments, meaning the three parties are covered for the period during which they held seats. From next year, they will no longer receive state funding.
State funding in figures
In early January, a total of €12.7 million in state grants was paid to the seven parties then represented in the House: DISY, AKEL, DIKO, ELAM, EDEK, DIPA and the Ecologists. Of that total, €6.7 million went to the seven parliamentary parties, with 15 per cent divided equally among all parties and 85 per cent distributed according to their results at the 2021 parliamentary elections.
Individual allocations this year were: DISY €1.98 million, AKEL €1.62 million, DIKO €890,000, ELAM €591,000, EDEK €587,000, DIPA €546,000 and the Ecologists €434,000.
Youth organisations of the parliamentary parties received €315,000, while €150,000 was allocated to parties for public awareness purposes and to cover their contributions to European Union party groupings. A further €5.6 million was paid to cover the salaries of the 100 parliamentary assistants employed by the parties and their MPs.
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