Preparations and all necessary procedures are underway so that Cyprus’ presidential elections will take place smoothly in February 2023. Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary, Costas Constantinou, informed on Thursday candidates or their representatives about the procedure for the candidacies submission and other processes related to the elections.
The first round of the elections will take place on February 5, 2023, and the second round, in case no one is elected from the first round, on February 12. The three other important dates of the roadmap for the elections are: the 23rd of December 2022 when the Interior Minister will issue the Decree for the announcement of the elections, the 27th of December 2022 which is the deadline for the submission of the applications to register to the electoral roll and for the submission of statements of interest for voting at the polling stations abroad and January 5, 2023, the day on which candidacies for the presidency will be submitted.
In statements after briefing candidates or their representatives, the Ministry of Interior Permanent Secretary said that “we informed them about the roadmap of the presidential elections, for the processes as well as the practical issues related to the elections.”
He added that on December 23 the Interior Minister will issue a decree for the announcement of the elections while on the same day the Chief Returning Officer, the Returning Officers and their deputies will be appointed.
Constantinou also said that December 27 is the last day for the submission of the applications to register to the electoral roll and urged all citizens who are eligible to submit their application. Each application can be submitted via an electronic platform until midnight of December 27 or in writing until 1700 on the same day.
“We also informed them that a procedure is underway for registration to the special electoral roll for voting abroad which will also be concluded on December 27,” Constantinou added.
Candidacies for the elections will be submitted on January 5, 2023, at Filoxenia Conference Centre in Nicosia. Constantinou pointed out that they look forward for the whole process to run smoothly so that the people will elect the President who will govern the country for the next five years.
Asked if there are any differences compared to previous elections, he said that citizens are now in a position to submit electronically their applications to register to the electoral roll or to be able to vote abroad.
Moreover, he noted that due to the pandemic a special protocol will be implemented in cooperation with the Health Ministry. He explained that there will be no mobile ballot boxes as in the recent parliamentary elections, however people who are COVID-19 positive on the day of the elections will be able to vote by implementing strict health protocols and will be called to vote at a certain time.
Responding to other questions, Constantinou said that the exact number of candidates will be known on January 5 when candidacies will be submitted adding that there seems to be great interest and that there will be a big number of candidates.
Moreover, he said that currently there is much bigger interest in registering to the electoral roll than in the previous months.
As regards the polling stations that will operate abroad, he said that they will be finalized after the deadline for the statements of interest for voting abroad expires, adding that for sure they will operate in Greece and the UK, while they are also expected to operate in other European counties as Germany, as well as in Arab cities as Dubai.
Constantinou also said that some hundreds of Turkish Cypriots who live to the government-controlled areas of Cyprus are registered to the electoral roll and have the right to vote.
Source: Cyprus News Agency