Parties had to harry voters to the polls

The rising scourge of absenteeism reared its apathetic head in last Sunday’s municipal elections, recording over 30 per cent abstentions across Cyprus. 

The highest expression of indifference towards local authorities was shown in the island’s two biggest cities, Nicosia and Limassol, which recorded a 66 per cent and 65 per cent voter turnout respectively.  

Larnaca fared a little better, with a 71 per cent turnout while the free areas of Famagusta saw 80 per cent of voters reach the polling stations. Paphos came out the torchbearer for local democracy with 83 per cent of registered voters turning up on the day. 

Voter apathy is clearly on the up if one compares stats for the last municipal elections in 2006 where the overall abstention rate was 17.5 per cent. In the recent parliamentary elections in May, 2011, around 21 per cent failed to turn up, while the biggest record was reserved for the European Parliament elections in 2009 which suffered a 40 per cent abstention rate. 

Chief Returning Officer Andreas Assiotis said turnout was significantly low in all areas except Paphos, singling out Nicosia and Limassol for the very low turnout.

The latest bout of voter apathy could have been much worse had Assiotis, the candidates and parties not pleaded with and harried voters to get to the ballot box on Sunday afternoon. 

By the 1pm break, turn out in Nicosia and Limassol was just 26 per cent.  

At 3pm, around 47 per cent of all registered voters had cast their votes, prompting Assiotis to call on voters to exercise their electoral right in the remaining three hours. 

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday the low turnout should concern each and everyone. He argued that the high abstention rate showed the clear disregard people had towards political life, noting this was a message on the need to regain people’s trust.

The majority of parties interpreted the increase in voter apathy as a message of “discontent”. 

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.