Approximately 561,000 voters are registered to vote in the upcoming presidential elections to be held in February, Chief Returning Officer Costas Constantinou told the Cyprus News Agency, but he noted that the number will be finalized on January 10th when the period for objections will expire.
According to Constantinou, approximately 1,150 polling stations, of which 35 are abroad, will operate for the elections, the first round of which is set to take place February 5th.
He said that during the period of the last three months, up to December 27, 10,558 applications were submitted for registration. Voters who reside abroad will have until January 5th to inform the authorities whether they wish to vote at a nearby polling center in their country of residence, or to exercise their right to vote in Cyprus.
A total of 10,737 voters expressed the desire to vote abroad and for this purpose 35 polling stations will operate in 25 cities, most of which are in Greece and the United Kingdom.
The chief returning officer said that polling stations will operate in Athens, Thessaloniki, Volos, Ioannina, Komotini, Larissa, Patras, Heraklion and Rethymno and the UK polling stations will operate in Glasgow, Leeds, in two locations in London (the High Commission building and the Cypriot Community Center in North London), Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. Polls will also open in Berlin, Vienna, Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, Sofia, Stockholm, The Hague, New York and Dubai.
Constantinou said that the total number of Cypriot citizens who are over 18 years old and have the right to vote is 724,619. However 172,000 citizens, who are registered in the population register and have the right to be registered in the electoral roll, have not registered, Constantinou told the Cyprus News Agency.
He explained that a student who was not registered in the electoral roll and after his or her studies settled and works abroad, with a permanent address there, can no longer register.
He noted that almost 72,000 of the 172,000 who have not been registered in the electoral rolls, are between the ages of 18-25.
Of this number, approximately 24,000 have not expressed an interest in joining the lists.
The polling stations in Cyprus will be finalized January 10th as well.
Regarding the submission of candidacies, Constantinou stated that up until December 23, 16 persons received the appropriate nomination forms. Three candidates, Constantinou said, have already submitted their applications with all the necessary supporting documents which have been checked and the fee provided by law is paid. The deadline for submitting the candidacies is Friday, January 5 at 12:00 p.m.
Any citizen of the Republic of Cyprus who has reached the age of 35, has not been convicted of a crime, has not been deprived of electoral rights, does not suffer from a mental illness and has not served as President of the Republic for two consecutive terms in the immediately preceding period can run for President.
Chief Returning Officer said that objections can be filed within six hours after the deadline for the nominations and when this deadline is expired, the preparations will commence in order to designate the polling station staff.
Source: Cyprus News Agency