A high-profile campaign billboard promoting an Israeli prime ministerial candidate near Larnaca Airport has caused an outcry and political friction within the Greek Cypriot administration, according to local media reports.
The promotional displays for Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israel Defense Forces chief-of-staff and leader of Israel’s Yashar party, have prompted demands for an outright ban on third-country political advertising across the island's Greek Cypriot-controlled areas.
The advertisements have been put up ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 general election, aimed directly at the soaring numbers of Israeli tourists and expatriates on the island.
One billboard greeting arrivals read, "Israelis, enjoy! You deserve it,” while a second sign placed along the return highway to the airport urges travelers to "Come back and win!”, reported the English-language daily, Cyprus Mail on Monday.
Eisenkot’s campaign headquarters confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that the billboards were an official strategy to mobilize Israeli voters vacationing abroad.
However, the unprecedented sight of foreign political propaganda has exposed growing public unease over the expanding footprint of Israeli capital, real estate buys, and businesses in southern coastal hubs like Larnaca and Limassol, the newspaper reported.
Independent Member of the European Parliament Fidias Panayiotou spearheaded the political backlash, calling the development "particularly concerning” in a video broadcast on social media.
Panayiotou argued that the campaign demonstrates foreign political strategists now consider the concentration of Israeli nationals in southern Cyprus vast enough to justify overseas campaign spending.
"This is unacceptable,” Panayiotou said, proposing new legislation to ban third-country electioneering within government-controlled areas. He warned that safeguards are urgently needed to ensure foreign influence does not place Cyprus at a future "political or geostrategic disadvantage.”
Despite the political uproar, local authorities in the south admitted to a complete regulatory vacuum regarding foreign political displays.
The Greek Cypriot administration's Interior Ministry said it has no legal framework under its competence to govern campaign advertisements, referring inquiries to the country's Advertising Regulation Organisation (Caro).
Caro similarly acknowledged to the local media that commercial billboard content remains entirely at the discretion of private landowners and advertising firms, provided general codes are respected.