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Cyprus

Cabinet backs local government reform referendum

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris

An island-wide referendum on local government reform will be held on the same day as the May 30 parliamentary elections, the Council of Ministers decided on Wednesday.

The decision was announced by Interior Minister Nicos Nouris whose ministry took the proposal to cabinet.

It came in the wake of advice from the attorney general that referendums could not be held after the local government reform bill is enacted into law because this would place the law’s provisions into doubt.

Nouris said the decision will be forwarded to the House together with the question to be asked in the referendum.

The reform of local administration in the form of a number of bills has been before Parliament since last summer.

Opposition parties wanted referendums to be held at each community to decide whether they wanted the reform, which entails mergers and the reduction of municipalities from 30 to 17.

Parties said the referendums would take place after passage of the reform bills, which essentially meant scuppering the entire effort.

The government disagreed with the notion of having referendums, but eventually agreed that if that would be the case, then there should be only one across the Republic and not many community-based polls.

Nouris then sought the opinion of the attorney-general whether the parties’ intention was constitutional and how would that affect the legislation’s implementation.

The Interior Minister said he has already informed parties of his intention on Tuesday.

 

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