NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Cypriot YouTuber and TikToker Fidias Panayiotou, who translated his online popularity into a meteoric governmental vocation astatine location and successful Europe, said Monday that he’ll clasp onto his European Parliament seat, contempt winning 1 successful Cyprus’ House of Representatives.
“I’ll enactment successful the European Parliament due to the fact that it would beryllium bully for the Direct Democracy enactment to person a European Parliament member,” Fidias, who goes by his archetypal name, told reporters earlier a proclamation ceremony.
“We could’ve done amended but we’re blessed with what has happened, this is simply a tiny victory.”
Fidias whipped up overmuch speculation by being coy astir his governmental aboriginal passim his campaign.
It was lone six months agone that Fidias, 26, founded the Direct Democracy party. He said that the enactment was intended to upend the established governmental bid successful Cyprus and overseas by enabling mean citizens to person a accidental successful formulating enactment argumentation and state themselves enactment candidates done an online application.
Direct Democracy received 5.4% of full votes successful Sunday’s parliamentary predetermination and 4 seats successful the 56-member House. Fidias, who garnered the astir votes retired of each of his party’s candidates, ceded his spot to runner-up Yiannis Laouris.
Even though it’s a singular effect for a radical that eschewed the accepted mode of wooing voters by outlining its policies, the effect didn’t unrecorded up to Fidias’ ain expectations. That’s due to the fact that astir 1 successful 5 voters formed their ballots for him successful the June 2024 European Parliament election, adjacent though helium took nary governmental positions, made nary promises and didn't contiguous a programme for his clip successful office.
“It seems present that radical are bare not for governmental positions, but for existent radical that are not lying, (but) saying the truth,” helium told The Associated Press successful an interrogation soon aft the 2024 poll.
Fidias spent years boosting his popularity with outrageous and occasional video posts of him spending wads of currency successful Vietnam, surviving a week successful an airdrome for free, and burying himself live for 10 days.
His online breakthrough came aft helium relentlessly pursued and succeeded successful getting a hug from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who besides became a fan.
Fidias has acknowledged that his online antics had offered galore Cypriot voters — who are profoundly disenchanted with the perceived corruption of a enactment strategy that has operated connected a favors-for-votes ground for decades — a mode to explicit their frustrations.
Fidias has utilized online media arsenic his superior instrumentality to pass with his supporters the interior workings of the European Parliament, the reasoning for his voting connected issues arsenic good arsenic to reply his increasing fig of detractors who see him and his trial-by-error decision-making politically infantile.
He has besides courted plentifulness of contention for his perceived enactment for negotiations with Russia implicit the warfare successful Ukraine, and for casting uncertainty connected what the International Criminal Court said was the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Sunday’s parliamentary predetermination saw the ultranationalist National Popular Front, oregon ELAM, enactment marque large gains, receiving astir 11% of the ballot and 8 seats — up from conscionable nether 7% and 4 seats successful the erstwhile poll.
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