The main opposition party, the right wing Democratic Rally (DISY), topped the polls in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, gaining 138,614 votes and a comfortable lead of 34.27% against the ruling left wing AKEL party, which rallied in second position with 132,163 votes and 32.67%.

Both parties have increased their share of the vote, compared with the corresponding percentage in the 2006 parliamentary elections.

DISY’s percentage in the 2006 parliamentary elections was 30.52%, gaining 3.75% in today’s poll. In the same poll in 2006, AKEL got 31.31% share of the vote, registering 1.36 in today’s poll.

The biggest upset of the night was the number of abstentions, reaching 113,282 or 21.32%, an unprecedented development in parliamentary elections.

A total of 418,181 ballots were counted, 404,518 were valid, 8,693 invalid and 4,970 were blank.

Turnout in Sunday`s parliamentary elections for the new members of the House of Representatives fell to 80% compared to 87.91% in the 2006 elections.
According to Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides 80% of the registered voters went to the polls.

For Nicosia district the turnout was 72,20%, compared to 88,28% in 2006, in Limassol 78,40% compared to 89,71%, in Famagusta 83,80% compared to 89,65%, in Larnaka 80,80% compared to 89,30% and in Pafos 86,40% compared to 88,82% in 2006.

Turnout for voters abroad reached 68% (Athens 75%, Thessaloniki 72%, Patras 82%, London 59% and Manchester 49%).

Votes went to:

DISY 138,614 34.27% AKEL 132,163 32.67% DIKO 63,783 15.77% EDEK 36,119 8.93% EVROKO 15,712 3.88% GREENS 8,954 2.21% ELAM 4,350 1.08% LASOK 2,668 0.66% ZYGOS 858 0.21% KY.PRO.S 709 0.18% KYRIAKOU K. 235 0.06% EFSTRATIOU A. 213 0.05% CONSTANTINOU N. 45 0.01% STAVROU P. 39 0.01% PIERIDIS A. 36 0.01% STAVROU L. 20 0.01%