Preparations for May’s parliamentary elections underway

PREPARATIONS BY the Interior Ministry are underway in earnest for the parliamentary elections to take place on May 22, Head of the Election Service Demetris Demetriou said yesterday.

Demetriou said that on April 14 a decision will be taken on the dissolution of the House of Representatives and one day later the Interior Minister will issue a decree officially announcing the elections, while the Chief Returning Officer and the District Returning officers and their deputies will be appointed.

Demetriou said that candidacies will be submitted on May 3 and on May 6 a decree will be issued listing the election centres.

On May 13 the allocation of voters to election centres will be published.

The Elections Service of the Ministry of the Interior has called on all citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, aged 18 and over, who have been residing in Cyprus for the past six months, to submit their applications to register in the electoral list before April 2. Persons who will have their 18th birthday by May 22 will also be able to vote.

Demetriou said about 25 polling stations will be set up abroad, in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, London and Manchester.

”These polling stations will cover 80 per cent of the voters abroad,” he added.

The number of polling stations to be set up in Cyprus is about 1,300.

According to data, on January 2, 2011, the total number of registered voters was 517,571. The Ministry of Interior estimates that in the next three months the total number of voters will reach 530,000.

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.