A total of 526,060 registered voters are called to elect the six MEPs from Cyprus. The number of voters includes 6,458 community citizens living in Cyprus, as well as 9,628 Cypriots who will be voting abroad. A total of 1,126 polling stations will be set up, including 34 abroad.
Speaking at a press conference, Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides said the number of voters is the highest ever registered in any elections in the Republic, noting that there is now a 9% increase in the number of voters, compared with the European elections of 2004, with the number of Turkish Cypriots having doubled and the number of EU citizens voting in Cyprus having tripled compared with the 2004 figures.
The Turkish Cypriots living in the government controlled areas of Cyprus, as well as the EU citizens in Cyprus, will be voting at the same polling stations as the Greek Cypriots, depending on the area they reside in on the island.
For voting procedures abroad, a total of 166 officers will work at the polling stations, of which 45 are embassy staff and 121 specially trained personnel from Cyprus. In Cyprus, around 10,000 civil servants and police officers will be working to cover all phases of the voting procedure.
Polling stations will open at 0600 local time (0300 GMT) and close at 2000 local time, with a one-hour break from 1200 to 1300. Polling stations abroad for Cypriot voters will be synchronised to close at the same time as those on the island.
The counting of ballot papers will be carried out at the polling stations, as soon as they close, and results will be announced on June 7, late at night, when the last polling station in the EU closes.
The six successful candidates from Cyprus will be proclaimed MEPs at the International Fair grounds in Nicosia, soon after the announcement of the results.
The cost of the European elections in Cyprus is expected to exceed the budget, which was for 4.5 million EUR, since the calculations had been made before the decision to operate polling stations for Cypriots abroad.
The Cyprus News Agency, 05 – 06 – 09
