Ministry of Interior clarifies 2026 legislative election seat allocation

The Cypriot Ministry of Interior has released details regarding the seat allocation process for the 2026 legislative elections. The process begins by calculating the electoral quota for each district, determined by dividing the total number of valid votes by the number of parliamentary seats available in that specific district. Parties receive seats based on how many times this quota is contained within their total vote count. Any remainder of votes is reserved for a second round of seat distribution. Blank ballots are deemed invalid but are recorded separately for statistical purposes. Parties failing to meet the quota in the first round do not receive seats. For example, in the Nicosia district with 19 seats and 120,000 valid votes, the quota is 6,315, meaning a party with 35,000 votes secures 5 seats immediately, with the remaining 3,425 votes carrying over to the next stage.