The European Elections bill passed last Thursday presents a number of obstacles that will limit the participation of Greek and Turkish Cypriot voters, one European official told the Sunday Mail.
The head of the Office of the European Parliament in Cyprus, Anthony Comfort, said he was disappointed that a large number of Cypriots would not get the chance to vote abroad and found it regrettable that Turkish Cypriots would have to register on the electoral roll before voting since this would likely reduce the number of participants.
“Not all countries provide for their citizens to vote abroad but it is disappointing that Cypriots wont be able to,” he said.
“It is particularly regrettable that Turkish Cypriots will have to register first to be put on the electoral roll instead of just showing ID papers. I can’t predict the outcome but it’s unlikely to mean they’ll vote in larger numbers at the elections if they can’t just cross over on the day and pop their vote in,” said Comfort.
The parliamentary official said registration risked reducing the participation of Turkish Cypriots.
A total of 42 deputies voted for the bill on Thursday and one, Greens deputy George Perdikis, voted against.
The law paves the way for Greek Cypriots (including religious minorities), Turkish Cypriots and EU nationals to vote in a single electoral roll on June 13 for six representatives of Cyprus in the European Parliament.
In practice, all the above who are not already on the presidential roll will have to apply to register on the roll at the District Office before April 2. To satisfy the criteria, a citizen has to have been resident in the country for at least six months prior to registration. For EU citizens, if they have lived in Cyprus or any EU country for the past six months, they are still eligible to register.
EU citizens in Cyprus have the choice of voting for a MEP (Member of European Parliament) here or in their own country, depending on the provisions of each member state.
Cyprus appears to have almost ruled out the possibility of allowing Cypriots abroad to vote as the bill did not contain any such provision and Interior Minister Andreas Christou said it was impractical.
Germany, the UK and the Netherlands allow their citizens to vote from abroad by post or proxy while France gives its citizens the chance to vote from any embassy. Europeans may also run as candidates in Cyprus. Once a person is on the electoral roll, they also have the right to run for office, so long as they are over 25. According to Comfort, both Belgium and Germany have a French MEP representing them in Strasburg.
An Interior Ministry official told the Sunday Mail the decision to make registration compulsory was based on the principle of equal treatment.
“Automatic registration would have increased the electoral roll by about 75,000 because of Greek Cypriot voters abroad. Bear in mind, there are around 25,000 Turkish Cypriots abroad too,” said Demetris Demetriou from the ministry’s Election Service.
To ensure equal treatment, the government would either have to set up voting booths abroad or fly everyone in to vote on the day. By asking citizens to register first, this cuts numbers a great deal and avoids legal action.
There are around 15,000 Greek Cypriots abroad, mostly students, who are already on the roll and could be flown over by the parties, said Demetriou.
