Data commissioner received 25 cases of election meddling

There were 25 reports filed to the data protection commissioner’s office over calls spurring voters to back certain candidates.

In a statement on Tuesday, commissioner Irene Loizidou-Nicolaidou said the complaints included unwanted text messages and/or calls during the campaign period, which will now be investigated.

During Sunday’s first round of presidential elections, there were reports that members of the public were contacted and urged to vote for certain candidates. The calls were allegedly coming from certain camps, something which is illegal to do on the eve and day of the elections.

Over the course of the day on Sunday, Nicolaidou said her office had carried out inspections in 90 voting centres and  they observed all procedures were adhered to.

Her directions that ID numbers were not allowed to be read out were also followed, she added.

Nicolaidou said her office had also received 14 questions regarding how personal data would be processed during the election period.