Britain offers expats postal votes for the first time

OVERSEAS British citizens will be able to vote by post for the first time at the next general elections.

Until now, expats had to arrange proxy votes in their constituencies.

Postal voting forms will be dispatched to all those who are registered six weeks before polling day – the prescribed period of notice given before any election.

The scheme is to be made available for anyone who knows they will be out of the country on polling day – permanent residents abroad as well as business trippers.

Votes will only be counted if they arrive on or before polling day. Delayed votes will be void.

Electoral registers will be open all-year round so that voters can register whenever they want.

Potential voters must have registered on a UK electoral register with a British address within the last 20 years.

Four-page registration forms are available in writing or by telephone from the Consular Section of the British High Commission, Alexander Pallis Street, PO Box 21978, Nicosia, 1587, telephone number 02 861100.

Forms can be counter-signed by High Commission Consular staff or any British citizen.

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.