Two British Cypriots elected in general election

Two British Cypriots, both members of the Labour Party, were elected as members of the country’s parliament on Thursday night.

Bambos Charalambous, first elected in 2017, successfully defended his seat in Southgate and Wood Green, winning 51 per cent of the vote, and a total of 23,337 votes – over 15,000 more than his nearest challenger, Eric Sukumaran of the Conservative Party.

Charalambous had previously served in shadow ministerial roles under both current Labour Party leader and prime minister-elect Sir Keir Starmer and his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.

Elsewhere, Nesil Caliskan was elected for the first time to elect the constituency of Barking, winning 45 per cent of the vote, and a total of 16,227 votes. Her nearest challenger was Reform UK’s Clive Peacock, who was 11,000 votes behind.

Caliskan had served as a councillor in the London Borough of Enfield since 2015 and had led the council since 2018.

A third Cypriot Labour Party candidate, Romford’s Andrew Achilleos, came within 1,500 votes of unseating Conservative Party incumbent in the constituency Andrew Rosindell.

British Cypriot Reform UK candidate Antony Antoniou, who stood in the Northampton North constituency, came in third place behind the Labour Party’s Lucy Rigby, who was elected, and second placed Conservative Party candidate Dan Bennett.

Antoniou had been accused of “defending Adolf Hitler” in a social media post.

Thursday’s election saw the Labour Party elected with a landslide majority, returning to government for the first time since 2010. The Conservative Party, in government for the last 14 years, recorded the worst result in the party’s history.

The election was also the first in which all British citizens living overseas, including around 40,000 in Cyprus, were eligible to vote.

One Cypriot voter, Paphos native and Sheffield resident Stavros Rousounides, spoke to the Cyprus Mail after casting his vote.

He said the fact he was eligible to vote “came as a surprise”, but that he was “super excited” when he received his polling card in the post.