Cyprus Election Court rejects reopening of the Papadopoulos case

The Cyprus Election Court has denied an application filed on March 6, 2026, to reopen election petition No. 1/2019 concerning Georgios Papadopoulos. The request followed a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Papadopoulos v. Cyprus. The initial 2019 petition, filed by Andreas Michaelides and Dimos Diamantis, challenged the election of Georgios Papadopoulos as a Member of Parliament for the Limassol district. The challengers argued that the legal mechanism used to fill Eleni Theocharous's seat, specifically the Amending Law No. 131(I)/2019, was unconstitutional and invalid. In a non-unanimous decision, the majority led by President Liatsos, supported by judges Economou, Psara-Miltiadou, Hatzigianni, Karakanna, and Georgiou, rejected the application. Judges Santis and Kalligerou issued a dissenting opinion. This follows a previous court ruling from October 29, 2020, which addressed the legitimacy of the election.