By Christodoulos Metaxas *:
The pre-election period of the parliamentary elections has officially started, which does not remind and will not remind any previous time. The election process is set for May 30 and candidates are called upon to run a different marathon, in which they must persuade citizens to trust them and give them the right to represent them in parliament, at a difficult time for the whole world.
Businesses have been locked in, workers are living on benefits as their jobs have been affected by the pandemic, the psychological pressure of the world is enormous. Many injustices in society, many complaints and at the same time, corruption scandals that erupt like a catapult have created cracks in the citizen-politics relationship.
What frightens me the most is the impact that all these problems will have on the electoral process, where the people give power to their representatives.
"The vote is louder than the ball. With the bullet you can kill your enemy. "By voting you can kill the future of your children," said Abraham Lincoln.
And he is absolutely right. This is how democracy works, and this is how our problems can be solved. Putting the weight of our representation on worthy people, who represent our ideas and will be the mirror of the citizens in the parliament.
There are worthy people in all party spaces, in all ideological spaces. Let us find them and send them to Parliament. Abstention is not a solution and as long as we do not realize it, we will have a problem. It is certainly the citizen's right to abstain from electoral processes, but the greater the abstention, the less the reflection of our society in parliament.
This is the truth. Let's evaluate it and let's look for it.
The limits have been narrowed and there is no room for error. As citizens let us be part of the solution and not the problem. Without fanaticism, let us give strength to the most capable who we believe will improve the situation we are in.
I'm sure someone who reads my thoughts can react… "But what is he shouting? He makes them, gums in jiam to eat our rials, to have a good time and we to suffer ".
Surely, everyone will read and interpret the article as they wish and it is their right. But as I said before, let's find the solutions and not just reproduce the problem. The problems are there, we all see them. The time of the citizens is near, let us listen and shape with our vote. Democracy must be strengthened and not hurt.
We owe it to Cyprus, we owe it to our enslaved lands, we owe it to the heroes who sacrificed for us. We owe it to each of us individually and to the next generations.
Part of the prosperity in society is brought by the citizens through their vote. They have the power. And on May 30, it is the time of the citizen.
* Journalist, Editor Famagusta.News, SIGMA Correspondent in Famagusta