More than half a million voters registered for parliamentary election

More than half a million people are registered to vote in May’s parliamentary election, interior ministry permanent secretary Elikkos Elia said on Saturday.

He told the Cyprus News Agency that according to the latest statistics, which were compiled on January 2, exactly 561,252 people are registered to vote.

The election is set to take place on May 24, with April 2 having been set as the final date on which people will be able to register to vote.

In advance of this, Elia said, the interior ministry will send letters to people who will reach the age of 18 years old before the election “with the aim of encouraging them to register”.

He added that at the same time, two information campaigns will also be launched in collaboration with the press and information office to the same end.

On this front, he said that since January 3, a total of 775 people have applied to register to vote, with it expected that there will be “a large volume” of applications submitted over the coming months.

People aged 25 years old and younger will be able to register online at elections.gov.cy, while people over the age of 25 years old who intend to register to vote will be able to do so at district administration offices, citizen service centres, and citizen centres at post offices.

Application forms can be found at those locations or downloaded from elections.gov.cy.

A total of 56 seats will be up for election, including that of Dipa’s George Penintaex, who became an MP in December after Marinos Mousiouttas vacated his seat to become labour minister.

Of those 56 seats, 19 will belong to MPs from the Nicosia district, 12 to MPs from the Limassol district, 11 to MPs from the Famagusta district, six to MPs from the Larnaca district, five to MPs from the Paphos district, and three to MPs from the Kyrenia district.

The Paphos district gained an extra seat ahead of May’s election due to the growth in its voting population, with that gain coming at the Nicosia district’s expense.

The Republic of Cyprus’ constitution initially foresaw a parliament with 50 voting members, of whom 35 would be Greek Cypriots and 15 would be Turkish Cypriots, as well as non-voting observers belonging to the Armenian, Latin, and Maronite communities.

Following the breakdown of constitutional order and the outbreak of intercommunal violence in 1963, the Turkish Cypriots were unable to return to their seats in parliament, leaving just 35 voting members.

That figure was raised to 56 Greek Cypriots ahead of the 1985 parliamentary elections after the constitution was altered using the doctrine of necessity. The amendment foresees 24 Turkish Cypriots also being elected, but with the Cyprus problem remaining unsolved, this has not yet happened.