December deadline for election registration ‘a blunder’

A MIX-UP over voter registration deadlines caused a commotion last week when an Interior Ministry official told the Sunday Mail that non-Cypriot EU nationals only had until the end of this year to register for municipal elections, when in fact they have until October 2, 2006.

The news that came from the Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary caused an outcry among non-Cypriot EU nationals because up to that point the Ministry had said that they still had almost a full year – until next autumn – to register for the December 2006 elections.

Because one needs a Cyprus ID card to register for the elections and because the process to get an ID card takes weeks or months, many would-be voters would not been able to make a 2005 deadline.

But Election Officer Demetris Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that there was a mix-up in the Interior Ministry over the voter registration deadline, and the December 31 deadline is only for those who are registered in one community, move and want to vote in the new community.

Demetriou confirmed that the general deadline for voter registration for the December 2006 elections would be October 2, 2006 – the last day the voters could be entered into the electoral roll, which is updated every trimester.

Demetriou also said that the Interior Ministry plans to soon publish some information on the voter registration process in newspapers.

National elections for Parliament are restricted to Cypriot citizens, but Directive 94/80 of the European Commission enshrines the right of EU nationals to vote in municipal elections and European parliamentary elections.

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.