The Elections Service of the Ministry of the Interior has announced that 9.311 Cypriot citizens will vote at the 25 polling stations to be set up abroad for the parliamentary elections to take place on May 22, 2011. Twenty five polling stations will be set up in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, London and Manchester.
According to an official press release, 2.978 Cypriots have registered to vote in Athens (936 for Nicosia electoral district, 170 for Kyrenia, 659 for Famagusta, 280 for Larnaka, 573 for Limassol and 339 for Paphos).
Moreover, 2.662 Cypriots will vote in Thessaloniki (757 for Nicosia electoral district, 122 for Kyrenia, 637 for Famagusta, 274 for Larnaka, 573 for Limassol and 299 for Paphos).
Also 548 Cypriots will vote in Patra (131 for Nicosia electoral district, 36 for Kerynia, 126 for Famagusta, 54 for Larnaka, 141 for Limassol and 60 for Paphos) and 2.245 Cypriots will vote in London (777 for Nicosia, 94 for Kerynia, 445 for Famagusta, 311 for Larnaka, 487 for Limassol and 131 for Paphos).
Finally, 878 Cypriots will vote at the pollin station in Manchester (267 for Nicosia district, 42 for Kerynia, 133 for Famagusta, 125 for Larnaka, 208 for Limassol and 103 for Paphos).
The Election Service has called on the voters who have lost their election book to contact their District Administration Office by 13:00 on Saturday, May 21, in order to replace their book.
Parliamentary elections take place every five years, for the 56 seat House. This will be the 10th parliamentary poll since the Republic of Cyprus was established in 1960.
According to the 1960 Constitution, 50 deputies are elected to the House. In June 1985, the House by a unanimous decision increased this number to 80 (56 from the Greek Cypriot community and 24 from the Turkish Cypriot community by virtue of the Law of Necessity.)
The Constitution stipulates that “the Greek community of Cyprus”, comprising Greek Cypriots, Latins, Armenians and Maronites, elects its own representatives to the House and “the Turkish community of Cyprus” its own deputies by a ratio of 70% to 30 %. The Turkish Cypriots withdrew unilaterally from Parliament in 1964, following intercommunal fighting and as part of their rebellion against the government.
Six political parties were represented to the House of Representatives which disolved later this month: the leftwing AKEL the rightwing Democratic Rally, the Democratic Party, the Social Democrats Movement EDEK, the European Party and the Ecologists with 1,95%.
There are 56 elected deputies, 21 of them in the Nicosia District, 12 in Limassol District, 11 in Famagusta District, 5 in Larnaca District, 4 in Paphos District and 3 in the Kyrenia District.
