More than 3,500 people will be elected in the June 9 elections, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Elikkos Elia, said on Tuesday after a meeting with the representatives of the political parties on the preparations for the June 2024 Elections.
These elections ‘are important’, he said, since they will concern the election of MEPs, Presidents of District Self-Government Organisations, Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Members of Municipal Councils, Community Leaders and Councils, and School Boards.
Elia said that April 2, 2024 will be the deadline for registration in the electoral roll of new voters and invited young people who have not voted before to register to vote by that date, either online or by visiting the District Administrations, Citizen Service Centres (KEP) or Citizens Centers (KEPOs). For this purpose, he added, the District Administrations will remain open on Saturday, March 30 until 14:00.
According to Elia, students or other Cypriot citizens living in Greece, the United Kingdom or Bru
ssels, may submit online, until midnight, April 2, their declaration to vote in their place of residence.
‘June 9 will be the day of Democracy because more than 3,500 of our compatriots will be elected to serve in some position’, Elia said, pointing out that the number of candidates, which will be finalised by the end of April, will be many times more than that. He referred to elections that have never been held before in Cyprus and invited everyone to participate and exercise their voting right.
Elia said that voters will cast up to six ballots in municipal areas, up to four in communities, up to four in the semi-occupied municipalities, up to three in the occupied municipalities and up to two for the occupied communities.
As regard the Self-Government Authorities Elections, Elia said that five Presidents of District Self-Government Organisations, will be elected, as well as 29 Mayors, 93 Deputy Mayors, 443 Municipal Councilors, School District Members for municipal areas. There will also be elected 424 C
ommunity Leaders , as well as Members of 2,390 Community Councils.
Elia said that, on May 2 ‘the innovative application’ ‘Ti psifizo’ (What I vote) is expected to be launched, where every citizen will be able to enter their details and receive information about the number of ballot papers they will receive and the number of preference crosses they will be able to mark on each of them. Available to the public will also be a ‘Where I Vote’ app, which has been used in previous elections.
The Interior Ministry permanent secretary expressed the belief that there will be no queues at the polling stations and that each voter would spend five to six minutes inside the polling station in order to exercise their right to vote.
Regarding the European elections, Elia said that 30 to 35 special poll centers will operate for the Turkish Cypriots in the areas under the control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.
Referring to the numbers of voters, until January 2, 2024, Elia said that 547,527 people have been r
egistered in the permanent electoral roll (of which 735 are Turkish Cypriot), in the special electoral roll for EU Voters for the Local Government Authorities Elections 11,559 were registered, 9,190 were registered in the special electoral roll for EU Voters for the European Parliament Elections, while 82,925 were registered in the special electoral roll for Turkish Cypriots for the European Parliament Elections.
Regarding the new registrations in the electoral rolls from January 3 to March 22, Elia said that 5,941 people were registered in the permanent electoral roll (including 14 Turkish Cypriots), 3,208 people in the special electoral roll for EU Voters for the Local Government Elections, and 519 in the special electoral roll for the European Parliament Elections.
The elections road map
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According to Elia, April 2 is the last day to register in the electoral rolls and the last day to submit declarations for voting in the polling centers abroad for the European Parliament Elections.
On Apr
il 12, the decrees of the Minister of the Interior for the conduct of the elections will be published, while the Chief Returning Officer, the Assistant Chief Returning Officer, the Returning Officers and their Assistants will be appointed.
On April 24, the nominations for the European Parliament Elections will be submitted, while on the 25th, the nominations for the Self-Government Elections will be submitted. On April 29, nominations will be submitted for the Elections for Community Leaders and Community Council Members.
On June 9, the voting, sorting and counting of votes will take place, while on June 10 and 11, those elected will be announced. Details and announcements will be published on the website elections.gov.cy in three languages (Greek, English and Turkish).
Source: Cyprus News Agency
