An end to compulsory voting?

ELECTIONS service chief George Theodorou yesterday told the House refugee committee that voting should become optional from 2004.

Voting in elections is currently compulsory – failing to cast your vote is punishable by a fine of up to £200.

Theodorou told the committee that the trend in Europe was towards non-obligatory voting.

The elections official added that municipal elections would take place in December, with elections for the Pancyprian refugee committee taking place a week later.

DISY deputy Chrystrodoulos Taramoundas claimed before the committee that the refugee elections were illegal. He said the constitution only provided for Presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections.

Taramoundas said his party would be tabling an amendment to end refugee elections. The proposed law change will be discussed by the committee on July 4.

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.