Changes planned for electoral law

CHANGES could be in the pipeline in election laws – including scrapping the £300 ceiling applied to the election campaign of parliamentary candidates.

The bills would also shorten voting hours by 90 minutes and introduce separate ballot papers for each electoral alliance.

For the presidential elections, candidacies would have to be submitted at least 20, and not the current 10 days before the polls.

The proposed changes are contained in a batch of draft bills sent to the House of Representatives yesterday for approval. Other proposals include the government’s controversial proposal to change the law on evidence, and a move to allow district courts to try cases which carry heavier fines.

Another government bill would introduce a new regime at Larnaca and Paphos airports to deal with ground handling.

All the bills are subject to the approval of the House of Representatives.

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.