Mandatory voting abolished

THE House plenum on Friday abolished a law that made voting mandatory, the violation of which incurred a fine of 200 Cyprus pounds (340 euros).

The law-abolishing motion was voted by 40 MPs, while three – far-right Elam’s two and the Citizens Alliance’s Anna Theologou – opposed it.

The government submitted the bill after the Interior ministry found that it was impossible to prosecute voters who opted to ignore elections.

The laws on mandatory voting and penalties for failing to vote had been inactive for many years, the ministry said, considering that the vast majority of European Union member states have non-mandatory voting ordinances.

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.