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Parties joined forces to get state subsidy for presidential election campaigning

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The issue of the annual state subsidy of political parties has re-opened in view of the February 5 presidential election debate and the appeal of independent candidate George Kolocasides before the Court of Justice.

Kolokasides complains that as an independent candidate he is not entitled to state funding for his election campaign – an issue he raised in Wednesday’s televised debate as well.

On Thursday, the final arguments in the Nicosia District Court where the appeal took place with the Court reserving its decision.

State subsidy for campaigning needs that was recently granted to the parliamentary parties has been incorporated after a joint proposal of ruling DISY, opposition AKEL, centre DIKO, and the Green Party as part of the one given to them annually.

The issue raised in the debate also had to do with whether parties supporting independent candidates use this money for their election campaign and therefore this creates an issue of discrimination for candidates not backed by parties.

Kolocasides has argued that after the Parliament amended the law in 2021, the €2.5 million extraordinary subsidy that parties received for election purposes was incorporated into their annual state funding.

This means that the parties also received subsidy for the 2023 Presidential Elections.

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