Just over 500,000 Greek Cypriots and some 2,000 Turkish Cypriots will go to the polls on May 21 to elect 56 new members of parliament
Interior Minister Andreas Christou said the House of Representatives will be dissolved on April 13 and elections called the next day.
Cyprus has an executive president elected directly by the people, while parliament is a legislative and regulatory body with the power to introduce or halt new laws and approve or block state budgets.
The record number of voters will cast their votes in 1300 polling stations and the whole process is expected to cost the state about CYP 2.5 mln (US$ 5.3 mln).
“We will print special leaflets in Turkish so that the Turkish Cypriots living in the areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus can also vote,” Christou said.
It is unclear how many Turkish Cypriot candidates will contest a parliamentary seat for the first time, as they will not be counted among the 56 constitutionally reserved for the Greek Cypriot community.
A further three non-voting seats are also reserved for the ethnic and religious minorities living on the island — the Armenians, the Catholic Maronites who hail from neighbouring Lebanon, and the Catholic Latins, who trace their roots to the Venetians who ruled the island up to the 15th century.
Other proposals to allow some 20,000 Cypriots who live abroad to vote in overseas election centres, or for Internet ballots, were rejected.
The main political parties are expected to subsidise special flights to allow overseas Cypriots and students to travel to the island with reduced air fares and combine the trip with a short-break holiday.
Fears that the election date would clash with the Eurovision song contest that will be held in Athens the previous night with Cypriot-born Anna Vishy singing the Greek entry, subsided, with fewer Cypriots wanting to travel to the Greek capital for the event.
However, many will remained glued to their television sets to watch the musical show that is more popular in Cyprus than a number of other countries within the network of the European Broadcasting Union.
