Just over 500,000 Greek Cypriots and some 2,000 Turkish Cypriots are expected to go to the polls on May 21 to elect a new parliament, it was announced Friday.
Interior Minister Andreas Christou said the House of Representatives was due to be dissolved on April 13 and elections called the next day. Candidacies will be submitted on May 3 and the list of polling stations will be finalised on May 5.
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.
A record number of voters is expected to cast their votes in 1,300 polling stations, with 30,000 of them taking part in elections for the first time. Voting for the House is compulsory. The whole process is expected to cost the state about CYP 2.5 mln.
The first results are expected between 7pm and 8pm.
“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.
The House of Representatives unanimously voted in January a law granting members of the Turkish Cypriot community who live in the government-controlled areas the right to vote in elections in the Republic.
It is the first time since the foundation of the Republic of Cyprus that Turkish Cypriots are taking part in parliamentary elections, which could technically have up to 80 seats, 56 of which are reserved for Greek Cypriots in a bi-communal chamber. This has not been implemented since intercommunal troubles and division started in 1963.
It was still unclear how many if any Turkish Cypriot candidates would come forward to challenge a seat in parliament.
A further three non-voting seats are 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 to vote via the internet were rejected.
As is traditional, the main political parties are expected to subsidize special flights to allow overseas Cypriots and students to travel to Cyprus with reduced air fares and combine the trip with a short-break holiday.
Fears subsided that the election date would clash with the Eurovision Song Contest that is scheduled to take place in Athens the previous night with Cypriot-born Anna Vishy singing the Greek entry, with fewer Cypriots wanting to travel to the Greek capital for the event.
However, many are expected to remain glued to their television sets to watch the musical show that is very popular in Cyprus.
