FAILED independent candidate Costas Tsangarides is challenging the legality of the May 27 parliamentary elections, claiming the layout of the ballot paper for Nicosia was deliberately biased against independents.
Tsangarides, who filed his appeal at the elections court on Friday, insists there was no justification for the capital’s independent candidates to be put under the heading ‘isolated candidates’ on the Nicosia ballot, when they went under the heading of ‘independents’ in other towns. He is also objecting to the fact that all Nicosia independents were put under a single heading on the Nicosia ballot paper, making it look, he claims, like they jointly belonged to a single party.
Tsangarides is also claiming that the sample ballot paper posted at Nicosia polling stations was different to the one voters had to fill in.
The failed independent wants the elections court to declare the May 27 parliamentary elections void, at least for Nicosia.
Tsangarides, who ran on a ‘voice of protest’ platform, yesterday said he was willing to take his case to the Supreme Court and then to the European Court of Human Rights if the elections court rejected his appeal.
Tsangarides is not the first failed candidate to challenge the elections. Former DISY deputy Andreas Parisinos has appealed against the results of the May 27 polls, claiming the counting of preference votes was totally chaotic. Parisinos, who was narrowly beaten by new DISY deputy Maria Kyriacou in the preference vote count, has demanded a recount of the preference crosses.
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