THE OFFICIAL registration of 47 candidates in the elections for Cyprus’ six seats in the European Parliament on 6 June took place yesterday at the Nicosia Hilton.
The 47 candidates consisted of six each from AKEL, DISY, DIKO, EDEK, EVROKO and the Greens, plus four from the Cyprus Reunification Movement (KEP), two from the National Popular Front (ELAM) and five independents.
Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Lazaros Savvides, who is responsible for organising the Euro elections, said that the registration process had gone “very well, exactly as we had planned.”
As election factories go, the Nicosia Hilton is definitely at the more comfortable end of the spectrum. One of its ballrooms was the venue for civil servants, police, TV and print journalists to wait for each of the various party delegations and independent candidates.
When nothing much was happening, most people stood around in the refreshments area, chatting, smoking, and drinking free coffee or freshly-squeezed orange juice.
Every now and then, the ballroom doors would be opened with a flourish, and a new batch of party worthies and candidates would stride in with as much gravitas as could be mustered for the cameras. Surprisingly, Savvides seemed genuinely pleased to see them, stepping forward to greet each party leader – or independent candidate – with a vigorous handshake and a smile.
The first test faced by each candidate involved running their €1,000 fee through the machine to check for forgeries. Then came the official signing of the registration documents at the top table, for the benefit of the photographers.
Each group would then move to the podium set up in front of a row of six TV cameras, where party leaders and candidates would say their piece. Any group member not on the podium could choose to sit to one side, in a sofa area reminiscent of a morning TV set. Shut one eye, and you could almost expect DIKO deputy Zacharias Koulias to start giving gardening tips.
The language used at the podium generally conformed to party stereotypes: AKEL talked about standing up for the workers, DISY talked about being European, and DIKO about “giving battle for our motherland”. One positive exception was younger-than-average DIKO candidate Simos Angelides, who talked as if he knew what kind of EU institution he was bidding to join. The spot-prize for most entertaining cliché-mangling was won by DIKO candidate Antigone Papadopoulou, who told us that “after the proud “no”, we entered the eurozone with our sword drawn.”
MEP Marios Matsakis, who is standing as an independent after being disowned by his former party, DIKO, told the Cyprus Mail: “This is a Cypriot panagyri [village fete]. The parties control the process, they control the media and TV, so the challenge I face is to get my message across to the people. I don’t have the parties’ machinery or financial resources; therefore I will rely on the fact that people know my track record during two terms as a deputy and five years as an MEP.”
So the stage is set. On Saturday, 6 June, roughly half a million registered voters will have the chance to cast their vote, express their preference, or abstain – compulsory voting notwithstanding.
Around 10,000 people will be voting abroad on in one of 34 polling stations in the UK, Greece and various other countries.
Counting of the votes and preferences indicated will begin immediately after the polls close at 8pm. Savvides said that although the results might be collated within hours, they will not be announced before 11pm on Sunday, 7 June.
