2nd LD Writethru: Cypriots start voting in post-bailout parliamentary elections

Polling stations in Cyprus opened on Sunday for a vote to elect a new 56-member parliament, which is expected to reflect public reaction to a three-year austerity program.

Constantinos Nicolaides, the chief elections officer, said voting was slack after the polling stations opened, but he expected it to pick up steam after 10 a.m. local time (0700 GMT).

Voters will elect 56 new members of the House of Representatives made up of only Greek Cypriots, after the Turkish Cypriots pulled out of the bi-communal government since 1963.

Voting is expected to close at 6:00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) with first official results expected in less than two hours and the final results shortly before midnight.

The parliamentary elections came after Cyprus' exit earlier this year from a bailout that was agreed upon following a near meltdown of its economy in 2013.

The elections are being contested by a record 12 parties or political groups, including some that had sprung up after the elections were declared a few weeks ago.

For the first time in 56 years, the economy took precedence in the electoral campaign, overcoming the reunification settlement issue with Turkish Cypriots.

The main contesting parties include the ruling center-right Democratic Rally Party (DISY), the left-wing Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL), and the center Democratic Party (DIKO), which has often been in a distant third place.

DISY and AKEL ended neck to neck in previous parliamentary elections,with about one-third of the votes for each party.

However, about one dozen polls showed AKEL to be losing over three percentage points of its electoral power after an AKEL government bungled the economy between 2008 and 2013.

Overspending, a deep recession and mismanagement of the overgrown banking system of Cyprus forced the AKEL government to apply for bailout in mid-2012.

But it was a DISY party government elected in early 2013 that was called to sign and apply a bailout memorandum with international lenders that involved hash austerity and reforms of the economy and the public administration.

Though the economy sprang back three years later, high unemployment and cuts in salaries and pensions have also eroded support for DISY as well.

Polls indicate a possible high abstention rate, with between 12 and 16 percent of the 543,000 voters still undecided about how to vote. Pollsters said it is not easy to make any firm predictions given the fluid situation.

Polls point to a parliament more splintered than before. The number of parliamentary parties is expected to increase from five to eight as some protest groups also have a chance with promises of quick fixes.

At least four of the small parties are expected to get into the parliament.

Though a splintered parliament will not have an impact on the stability of the government under Cyprus's presidential system, it will force it to compromise with smaller parties on a program of reforms. Endi