Cyprus’ 2023 presidential elections have concluded with Nikos Christodoulides, Cyprus’ former Minister of Foreign Affairs, being elected as the island’s eighth president. These tumultuous elections saw candidates from two of Cyprus’ largest political parties, DISY and AKEL, run as independents. Voters had to adjust to these changes, as the candidates loosened their ties to their respective political parties. 

Amidst these changes between the first and second rounds of the election, there have been rising concerns in regard to the future president’s solutions to Cyprus’ domestic and foreign challenges. The reunification of the island, revitalizing its economy, the migration crisis, and battling corruption are among the main focus of Cypriot citizens.

However, ballot turnouts seem to indicate a lack of faith in the government’s ability to navigate these issues. Of the 561,273 registered voters, 154,657 (28%) abstained from voting, according to the Ministry of Interior. This turnout is almost identical to that of the previous election in 2018, where 154,927 (28%) of voters abstained as well.

In 2013, there were much fewer voters who abstained, with 91,957(17%) voters who elected to do so. Understandably, in 2013, there were much more impending, pressing needs to tend to, such as the monumental debt accumulated due to Cypriot banks’ risky investment in Greek bonds. This urged Cypriot citizens to vote, as they felt that the AKEL office at the time was not fit to continue.

The rising abstention of voters can be attributed also to the youth’s lack of faith in the government’s transparency and ability to create solutions for the youth’s challenges, mainly unemployment and the youth’s underrepresentation in public affairs.

However, data shows that unemployment rates have been steadily declining over the past decade. In 2013, about 17% of the island’s population was facing challenges of unemployment. In 2022, however, that number was halved, at just over 8% according to the Ministry of Finance’s findings. 

Outside of the issue of unemployment, is that of integrity, trust, and inclusion.

The Cyprus Institute of Statisticians ran a survey to discern the intentions of the youth in regard to the presidential elections in 2018. It was conducted through telephone interviews, receiving a total of 706 responses. The survey indicated that 63% of citizens aged between 18-35 decided to abstain from voting. According to the survey, they felt that they could not trust politicians and political parties, their opinions and beliefs had no impact in public affairs, and that the public sector had no interest in the youth.

This trend of abstention is not only a prominent challenge in Cyprus, but also across Europe. Studies showcase that the youth across the EU are reluctant to participate in public affairs and vote for presidential and parliament candidates. A guide for electoral management bodies (EMBs) across the world, proposed by the UNDP, indicates that in 2015, 60% of youth across Europe had opted not to vote in their countries national elections. 

The guide, also referred to as a handbook, states that the lack of youth representation in governments, poses a threat to the improvement of youth involvement. It also lists common factors that play a role in low voter turnouts. They include similar concerns raised by the Cyprus Institute, such as distrust in political institutions, under-representation, and lack of access to knowledge and information. 

Combating unemployment and encouraging youth involvement in public affairs requires innovation from the public and private sectors, as well as transparency and communication from the government. We have already seen some initiatives take place to bridge the gap and improve the state of public affairs in Cyprus, however, the question remains if these movements will inspire the youth to place further trust in their government.

As a means of giving power to the youth’s voice, there have been some notable efforts from Cypriots to enable the youth’s inclusion. APLA, a Cypriot founded NGO and non-profit organization, aims to provide a platform for the youth to monitor elections, and to interact with presidential candidates. 

We spoke with Stefanos Kyprianou, APLA’s co-founder, on why Cyprus youth faces underrepresentation and why there is a lack of youth involvement. He stated that, “The lack of knowledge regarding politics, especially in the youth, stems from the culture of apathy and dislike towards politics. This culture was created through years of unhealthy political dialogues, extremism and corruption, which drove everyone away and stigmatized the word politics as meaning something corrupted. The root of the issue is how people view politics. 

Thus we founded APLA in order to digitalize the political dialogue and integrate it in the society in a way that people will understand what politics is actually about. Through initiatives such as our podcasts, APLA talks and positions, the VR Agora Presidential and our social media platforms, we tried to transfer people’s concerns directly to the political parties, the candidates and other key technocrats.”

Additionally, Nomoplatform is a platform that aims to educate the Cypriot citizens on the various acts that the government faces, and the decisions being made. Educating the people on public affairs is one avenue to improving citizen’s involvement, as well as to help them in voicing their opinions and concerns. 

For greater clarity on the matters of youth involvement in public affairs and the government, we spoke with George Isaias, Operations Executive at Nomoplatform. He shared that, “Youth who want to claim their position in some state office must not only face their opponents but also the social network that follows them. An older citizen has the opportunity to develop a larger social network that allows them to have the necessary access and resources to claim any government office.” 

Regarding possible actions to take to improve engagement, he stated, “There are individual actions that offer the necessary information for someone to actively participate in the policy-making processes, however, these actions are fragmentary and lack educational "legitimization".” 

He concluded with a description of how Nomoplatform is tackling the issue of lacking transparency and communication, “At Nomoplatform we give citizens the opportunity to monitor everything that happens in the Cypriot Parliament. In addition, we inform them of certain institutional rights they have such as sending comments on the laws being discussed, requesting information on issues that concern them and communicating with the Members of Parliament. So far 50,000 users have used our platform of which 27% are young people aged 18-24 and 34% young people aged 25-35.” 

Shifting the dynamics of the relationship between citizens and the state will take great effort. Both in educating the youth, and encouraging more transparency and collaboration from the government’s side. However, as George Isaias noted, and as we have seen from APLA and Nomoplatform, there are initiatives that are ushering in a new era of public affairs. One that is accessible to all, where everyone’s voice can be heard, and where citizen’s opinions are valued.