Elections: lucky break for ZYGOS

ZYGOS Independent Citizens Movement got a lucky break yesterday when despite having missed the deadline, were allowed to submit an application to receive party status.

Attorney-general, Petros Clerides, had ruled on Monday that ZYGOS would not be registered, during a meeting with the Interior Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Lazaros Savvides.

Clerides’ decision seemed to be irrevocable. It was stated that any application on handed in after Monday would be rejected.

Be that as it may, ZYGOS was proudly one of the parties which yesterday officially submitted their candidates with spokesman, John Cannas, saying that he was happy their application was given the last-minute approval.

The rules were relaxed after a protesting ZYGOS submitted evidence that “they had previously been in communication with the [Interior] Ministry’s staff in regards to their application,” Savvides said.

“After examining all the evidence that was newly presented to me and seeing that they had indeed been talking to our staff, I considered it right to add them to the list of approved parties,” Savvides said adding that ZYGOS fulfilled all the legal requirements.

Asked if it was not the job of the Interior Ministry’s civil servants to pass on all relevant information to him, Savvides responded that this was not an issue.  Communication can be nuanced, “a lot depends not on what you say but how you say it,” Savvides said, suggesting that a communication breakdown along the line of hierarchy was possible.

“We may have given [ZYGOS] some indications that were wrong,” said Savvides.

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