00:04The Cypriot YouTuber Fidesz Panayotou stunned Europe by winning a seat in the European Parliament
00:10in the 2024 EU election. His victory was largely driven by his massive social media following.
00:16Now, the 26-year-old wants to get elected to the National Parliament of Cyprus with his own new
00:22party, Direct Democracy, when Cyprus goes to the polls on May 24. The Direct Democracy Party's
00:29candidates portray themselves as ordinary people with no political background. Most
00:34of them rely heavily on social media to engage directly with voters.
00:39Yannis Laouris is a neuroscientist and the man considered to be the inspiration behind the
00:44Direct Democracy Party and an ideological mentor to Fidesz Panayotou. He's also running for
00:49Parliament in Nicosia.
00:51Yannis Laouris is a movement.
01:21Yannis Laouris gives the staff to adding their behaviour to the others as well.
01:26Yannis Laouris is made in lupds.
01:28Yannis Laouris is developed through technology.
01:29Yannis Laouris got its mobile applications to be verified and it should be verified that
01:36you'reå°‡ tithesos in Cyprus.
01:37and within this, anyone who wanted, could be a member as a lawyer for a lawyer for a lawyer.
01:47The APP carries the ancient Greek name Agora, which means Assembly of the People.
01:51Criminal lawyer Diana Constantinidi was appointed both a parliamentary candidate for direct democracy
01:56and its vice president through the APP. She says that concern over corruption was one of the main reasons
02:02she decided to enter politics.
02:04We had to protect the people and not be able to fix the two things.
02:10Therefore, this is the need for a certain way.
02:12We, since we were told about the world,
02:14that our representatives are from the people who came.
02:17The world was born. The world was born.
02:20Therefore, we came and we wanted to protect them.
02:24And I think that the hatred is growing because there is so much pressure.
02:28But traditional political parties are critical of Vidya's Panayotou and his movement,
02:33accusing them of lacking a clear position and a coherent ideology.
02:38There is also concern that his style of politics could transform parliament into a spectacle driven by social media populism.
02:46Naya Kamenu is Assistant Professor of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus.
02:51She believes that the rise of the direct democracy movement is linked to growing public dissatisfaction with traditional political parties.
03:00In a way, that the authorities have absorbed the international politics.
03:05They have no choice.
03:06Yes, indeed, they have no choice.
03:07So, that's why we are now looking at ways we create movements to create and express their positions for the
03:14public parties.
03:15The political fairity is one of which is benignible.
03:26Some people talk about geopolitics, and they can categorize the traditional countries.
03:35When we see in different countries, or only in Cyprus,
03:39we have governments that, in small or large levels, are managerial,
03:49they are political governments.
03:51For Yannis Laouris, a party such as Direct Democracy
03:55does not fit into traditional ideological categories.
03:58He believes that it seeks to construct a new political space
04:01beyond the conventional left-right divide.
04:06It is a fact that we are a group of heterocultimate,
04:10of different ideologically different people,
04:13and it is a great pyramid for people from different ideologies,
04:19such as in real life, to find them for the good of their country.
04:23This will be the challenge.
04:26Opinion polls suggest that Direct Democracy is on track
04:30to pass the 3.6% threshold needed to enter Parliament.
04:34If it does, only time will tell
04:36where this political experiment will lead Cyprus.
04:39will be the right to be the right to move on.
04:39We will now continue the right to move on.
04:41Whether it is a liquidation of oneself or anything else...
04:42Perhaps it will continue to enter the right of mind.
04:42The current left-right divide by myself in the right,
04:43or, perhaps it will not continue to enter the right of mind.
04:43Whether the other choice is the right to move on,
04:43It is a mixed-right divide by the left-right divide by the left-right divide by the left-rightепest.
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