NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cypriot YouTuber and TikToker Fidias Panayiotou, who translated his online popularity into a meteoric political career at home and in Europe, said Monday that he’ll hold onto his European Parliament seat, despite winning one in Cyprus’ House of Representatives.
“I’ll stay in the European Parliament because it would be good for the Direct Democracy party to have a European Parliament member,” Fidias, who goes by his first name, told reporters before a proclamation ceremony.
“We could’ve done better but we’re happy with what has happened, this is a small victory.” Fidias whipped up much speculation by being coy about his political future throughout his campaign.
It was only six months ago that Fidias, 26, founded the Direct Democracy party. He stated 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 secured 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. This is particularly notable as nearly one in five voters cast their ballots for him in the June 2024 European Parliament election, despite his lack of political positions, promises, or a defined 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, including spending large sums of cash in Vietnam, living a week in an airport for free, and burying himself alive for ten 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 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.
He has utilized online media as his primary tool to communicate with his supporters about the inner workings of the European Parliament, the reasoning behind his voting on issues, and to address his growing number of detractors who consider him and his trial-by-error decision-making politically infantile.
Fidias has also courted controversy for his perceived support for negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine and for casting doubt on what the International Criminal Court described as the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Sunday’s parliamentary election saw the ultranationalist National Popular Front, or ELAM, party make significant gains, receiving nearly 11% of the vote and eight seats, up from just under 7% and four seats in the previous poll.