Cyprus Public Opinion Trends

Corruption and conflict of interest among government officials is at the forefront of public discourse in Cyprus due to recent scandals. This post examines Cypriots’ perceptions towards public sector corruption and accountability. • The vast majority of Cypriots feel that corruption among the civil service, state officials, and business executives is pervasive. Greek-Cypriots in particular overwhelmingly express that corruption is prevalent.

After examining religiosity in Cyprus, we now turn to people’s views on the role of religion in politics and public affairs. • There is widespread belief in the separation of religion and government across both communities. However, non-trivial support for religious reasoning in public affairs also exists. • The vast majority of Cypriots are clear in their conviction that religious leaders should not influence political decision-making and electoral processes.

How important is religion in Cypriots’ lives in light of global trends in religiosity? • Religious values are prevalent in Cyprus and entrenched in people’s identity, regardless of whether one practices or considers themselves to be religious. • Nearly all Cypriots consider themselves to be part of a religion or religious denomination, irrespective of whether they attend religious services. • Overall, Greek-Cypriots tend to be slightly more religious than Turkish-Cypriots.

How do Cypriots classify their political ideologies and preferences? To what extent do they identify with the notions of the “left” and “right”? • In general, Turkish-Cypriots are more likely to identify with the left or right than Greek-Cypriots. In turn, Greek-Cypriots are more likely to identify with the centre or to not express a preference than Turkish-Cypriots. • The proportion of Cypriots that do not express a preference has gone from being the least common to the most common preference between 2004-2018.

The second part of the series examining the extent to which global trends in disaffection towards political institutions manifest themselves in Cyprus, focuses on European Union institutions. The analysis finds that trust in the EU and its institutions (European Parliament, European Commission, European Central Bank) fell among Cypriots from 2011 onward. However, this is mostly due to lower trust among Greek-Cypriots, as trust is higher and remained more stable for Turkish-Cypriots during this period.