Over 3,500 people to be elected in June vote

Over 3,500 people will be voted to positions of public office in the elections on June 9, the interior ministry permanent secretary Elikkos Elias said on Tuesday.

Speaking after meeting political parties to discuss the upcoming dual elections, Elias said elections will see local officials and MEPs selected.

“These elections are important because we have many elections for members of the European Parliament, presidents of district governance, mayors, deputy mayors, members of municipal councils, mukhtars, community councils and school boards,” Elias said.

He added that the deadline for registration to be included on the electoral roll will expire on April 2, and called on young people who have not voted before to register. He said that for this reason, district administration buildings will remain open on Saturday, March 30 until 2pm.

“June 9 will be a day for democracy because more than 3,500 of our compatriots will be elected to serve in a position,” Elias said.

He added that the number of candidates will be finalised by the end of April and will be many times higher than usual. He called it an election unprecedented in Cyprus and urged everyone to participate and exercise their right.

Referring to the creation of digital platforms to assist voters, Elias said that on May 2, the innovative application What I Vote is expected to be launched, where every citizen will be able to enter his/her data and will be informed about the number of ballot papers he/she will receive and the number of marks he/she can make on them.

He also said that there would be a Where to Vote app, which had been used in previous elections, telling voters which centre to vote in.

Elias said that the number of voters per polling station has decreased, and expressed confidence there would be no queues at polling stations as each voter should only need 5-6 minutes to exercise their right.

“Five minutes is not such a long time compared to the task we are called upon to perform as Cypriot citizens to choose those who will serve from various positions both in the European Parliament and in the local government,” he said.

Ballots for MEPs will be finalised by April 24, while a day later the ballots will be finalised for local governance authorities.

The ballot for community leaders and councils will be finalised by April 29.

Official announcements of the winners will come out on June 10 and 11.

Results will be posted on elections.gov.cy in three languages (English, Greek, and Turkish).

Referring to the election expenses of the candidates, Elias said that the election expenses of the candidates for the European Parliament should not exceed €50,000, while those of the candidate for president of the district governance organisation should not exceed €30,000, the mayoral candidates with a number of voters up to 15,000 should reach €10,000, those with 15,001-30,000 voters should reach €20,000 and those with 30,001 and above €30,000.

Election expenses for deputy mayors should reach up to €5,000, councillors up to €3,000, mukhtars up to €3,000 and community council members up to €1,000.