Michail will stay as chief returning officer

INTERIOR Ministry director Thanos Michail will fulfil his duties as chief returning officer for next month’s presidential elections despite objections from opposition parties, the government announced yesterday.

Akel, Edek and Diko called for Michail to be replaced after he publicly expressed support for Diko vice-chairman Dinos Michaelides as he abandoned his post as Interior Minister following his party’s withdrawal from the Disy-Diko government coalition.

But Michaelides’s ministerial successor, George Stavrinakis, said yesterday he had decided Michail would stay. He said Michail’s controversial statements had been “felicitations” and not “party political statements”.

Speaking during Stavrinakis’ swearing-in ceremony, Michail said he “could only hope” Michaelides would return as Interior Minister “soon”.

Akel, Edek and Diko claimed Michail had shown favouritism and could not be relied upon to act as an impartial returning officer.

“Before arriving at this decision, and without ignoring the reactions to his statements, I satisfied myself there was no way the returning officer could interfere either with the result of the process of the elections, even if he wanted to,” Stavrinakis said.

He said Michail’s duties during the elections would be “routine only”.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.