Plenum rejects deadline extension for Euro election

A MAJORITY vote in the plenum yesterday rejected a proposal to extend the deadline for registering on the electoral roll for this summer’s Euro elections, despite the low registration rate so far.

The proposal, put forward by DISY deputy Andreas Papapolyviou, comes exactly one week before the April 2 deadline that was fixed in January when the Euro elections bill was passed. Papapolyviou proposed that the deadline was extended by 10 days to April 13.

The bill paves the way for all Greek Cypriots registered on the presidential electoral roll to vote on June 13 for a representative to the European Parliament. It further stipulates that the remainder, EU nationals and Turkish Cypriots living in Cyprus, would have to register by April 2 to participate in the elections.

The Plenum heard that the amendment to the bill had to be made so as to give more people the opportunity to register. To drive his point home he referred to 26,300 Greek Cypriot would-be voters who had only recently turned 18 and had not yet had time to register on the electoral roll.
Only 2,700 out of 29,000 Greek Cypriots have registered since January 2, when the bill was passed, said Papapolyviou.

Meanwhile, only 700 EU nationals residing in Cyprus from a potential 42,000 have registered on the roll and, although around 80-90,000 Turkish Cypriots are eligible to vote, only a meagre 300 have registered on the electoral roll.

Following a heated debate between deputies, the bill was finally rejected with 20 AKEL and KS EDEK deputies opposing it, six DISY deputies voting for it and six DIKO deputies abstaining.
AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou pointed out the reason for his party’s negative stance was because of practical problems in finalising the register and due to the limited time left until the June elections in light of preparing for a referendum to the Annan plan on April 20.