NICOSIA – Fidias Panayiotou, a prominent Cypriot YouTuber and TikToker, has effortlessly transitioned from digital stardom to a rapidly ascending political path, capturing attention both in Cyprus and across Europe. On Monday, Fidias, as he is widely known, announced his decision to maintain his position in the European Parliament, despite having secured a seat in Cyprus’ House of Representatives.
Before a formal proclamation event, Fidias addressed the media, stating, “I’ll remain in the European Parliament because it benefits the Direct Democracy party to have representation at this level.” His comments reflected satisfaction with the outcome, describing it as “a small victory,” despite acknowledging that there was room for improvement.
Throughout his campaign, Fidias kept the public guessing about his political ambitions, fueling widespread speculation. His journey into politics has been nothing short of remarkable. Just six months ago, at the age of 26, he launched the Direct Democracy party, aiming to disrupt the traditional political landscape in Cyprus and beyond. This innovative party empowers ordinary citizens by allowing them to influence party policies and declare candidacy through a straightforward online process.
In the recent parliamentary elections, Direct Democracy captured 5.4% of the total votes, earning four seats within the 56-member House. Although Fidias received the highest number of votes among his party’s candidates, he decided to forgo his seat in favor of Yiannis Laouris, the runner-up, thereby reinforcing his commitment to his role in the European Parliament.
It was only six months ago that Fidias, 26, founded the Direct Democracy party. He said that the party was intended to upend the established political order in Cyprus and abroad by enabling ordinary citizens to have a say in formulating party policy and declare themselves party candidates through an online application.
Direct Democracy received 5.4% of total votes in Sunday’s parliamentary election and four seats in the 56-member House. Fidias, who garnered the most votes out of all of his party’s candidates, ceded his seat to runner-up Yiannis Laouris.
Even though it’s a remarkable result for a group that eschewed the traditional way of wooing voters by outlining its policies, the result didn’t live up to Fidias’ own expectations. That’s because nearly one in five voters cast their ballots for him in the June 2024 European Parliament election, even though he took no political positions, made no promises and didn’t present a program for his time in office.
“It seems now that people are hungry not for political positions, but for true people that are not lying, (but) saying the truth,” he told The Associated Press in an interview shortly after the 2024 poll.
Fidias spent years boosting his popularity with outrageous video posts of him spending wads of cash in Vietnam, living a week in an airport for free, and burying himself alive for 10 days.
His online breakthrough came after he relentlessly pursued and succeeded in getting a hug from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who also became a fan.
Fidias has acknowledged that his online antics had offered many Cypriot voters — who are deeply disenchanted with the perceived corruption of a party system that has operated on a favors-for-votes basis for decades — a way to express their frustrations.
Fidias has used online media as his primary tool to communicate with his supporters the inner workings of the European Parliament, the reasoning for his voting on issues as well as to answer his growing number of detractors who consider him and his trial-by-error decision-making politically infantile.
He has also courted plenty of controversy for his perceived support for negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine, and for casting doubt on what the International Criminal Court said was the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Sunday’s parliamentary election saw the ultranationalist National Popular Front, or ELAM, party make major gains, receiving nearly 11% of the vote and eight seats — up from just under 7% and four seats in the previous poll.
