The spending limit per candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections has been set at €25,000 plus an additional €5,000 for personal expenses, interior ministry permanent secretary Elikkos Elia said on Tuesday.

“Exceeding the amounts determined by law results in a fine equal to the amount of the excess,” he said

Elia emphasised that the parties, including new ones, had been informed by the interior ministry in December and were instructed to inform their running MPs accordingly.

The MPs’ formal spending limit covers the period of three months prior to the elections until election day, May 24, officially beginning Tuesday.

“We don’t provide any funding, we just put a limit to the funding the parties are legally allowed to use for electoral campaigning,” an interior ministry source told theCyprus Mail.

Parties with elected seats in parliament, however, could pay for those costs through the parliamentary funds they receive, which are allocated according to their seats.

“Each candidate is required by law to appoint an election agent, who may be himself, and to submit a declaration of election expenses for the amounts he has spent during the pre-election period,” he said.

Said report then needs to be published in two daily newspapers or on the MP’s website, Elia added.

“The goal of all of the above is to ensure transparency and accountability in the financing and spending of election campaigns by both parliamentary candidates and political parties,” he said.

Elections Service head Menelaos Vasiliou said that 26 parties are currently listed in the Republic’s party registry, with three others in the process of being approved.

The final number of parties fielding MP candidates in the election will be known on May 6, as both party and independent candidates have until this date to submit names.

There are 56 seats in the House split across six electoral districts.

Parties which decide to nominate candidates for all 56 seats, typically the larger, established parties, are therefore each allowed spend a total of up to €1.4 million – €25,000 per MP –on campaigning.

This figure excludes the maximum personal allowance of up to €5,000 per MP. Cypriot legislation, however, does not provide for a clear definition of campaigning and personal expenses. 

The upcoming elections are scheduled for May 24, with April 2 set as the final registration date set for those eligible to vote.

All citizens of the Republic aged 18 and over who have lived in Cyprus for at least six months are entitled to vote.

Young voters who turn 18 by the day of the elections are entitled to register.

Similar provisions apply to Turkish Cypriots who hold a Cypriot identity card are officially registered at an address in the Republic.

For applicants up to the age of 25, registration can also be completed electronically.

Paper applications can be submitted to district administration offices, citizen service centres and post offices, with application forms available at these locations, online and at the interior ministry.

The ministry had previously announced plans to increase voter registration by sending letters to people aged 18 and above before the election, 561,252 of which had registered at the beginning of January.

Cypriots that have not yet registered to vote can do so on the government website via https://www.gov.cy/en/service/registration-to-the-electoral-roll/