Chief Returning Officer, Elikkos Elias, said on Tuesday that Anastasia Anthousi’s appeal to the electoral court over a disputed parliamentary seat was “honest”, whilst assuring that any ruling by the court would be fully implemented.

Anthousi, a Disy candidate for Nicosia during the recent parliamentary elections held in May, had filed an objection requesting a recount of votes at a polling station in Nikitari, after a correction of five votes affected the second distribution of parliamentary seats and resulted in a seat moving from Disy to Elam.

Elias said that if the electoral court orders a recount of the specific ballot box, “we will obey the court and recount them”.

“If it is proven that there was no change in the final result announced for Nikitari, then things will remain as they are,” he said.

“If it is however proven that there was an error by the specific polling station, the court will decide and tell us what to do.”

The objection concerns a recount at the Nikitari polling station, where five votes initially recorded in favour of Elam were later corrected and attributed to Edek.

The change affected the allocation of seats under the second distribution process.

Anthousi received 7,606 votes and is seeking a recount, the annulment of the result concerning the disputed seat and recognition as the elected candidate if the court rules in her favour.

The elections service has confirmed that the objection has been registered and that it will comply with any decision issued by the electoral court.

Elias said the case also raised wider concerns about the structure of the electoral system, calling for a review by the House.

“We should be concerned about whether our electoral system is correct,” he said, adding that “we need to review our electoral system, especially the issue of the second distribution”.

He said the current system “suffers” and referred to the movement of a parliamentary seat between districts following the recent elections, describing the process as “demoralising” for candidates.

“A seat changed province within five minutes, went from one party to another and ultimately ended up being elected in the Paphos province with a very small number of voters,” Elias said.

He added that the electoral framework should be examined “to make it fairer”, while the final decision on Anthousi’s appeal remains with the electoral court.