The candidacies for mayor are officially submitted today before the Mayor of Famagusta, who has been appointed by the Minister of Interior as the Election Commissioner for the by-elections in Ayia Napa.
The two candidacies submitted so far are that of Deputy Mayor Christos Zannetos and Municipal Councilor Emilia Evangelou-Xydia.
According to a statement issued by the Central Election Commission on December 16, the Minister of Interior, Mr. Nikos Nouris, with his Decrees published in the Official Gazette of the Republic, has set Sunday, January 12, 2020 as the date for the elections and has appointed the Prefect. Famagusta as Election Commissioner. Furthermore, the Minister of the Interior has set December 30, 2019, as the date on which the Election Commissioner will receive the nominations.
Two members of the Municipal Council have so far announced their candidacy. Deputy Mayor Christos Zannetos, who is supported by DISY, DIKO, Party for the Animals of Cyprus and DIPA and AKEL Municipal Councilor Emilia Evangelou Xydia, which is supported by AKEL and the Citizens' Alliance.
Christos Zannetou
The current Deputy Mayor and acting Mayor, Christos Zannetou, has held the position of Municipal Councilor with DISY for the last 13 years. In the previous municipal elections he received 451 preference crosses.
Emilia Evangelou-Xydia
Emilia Evangelou Xydia was elected AKEL municipal councilor in the previous elections with 257 preference crosses.
Party percentages
It is noted that based on the 2016 parliamentary elections, the first party in the Municipality is AKEL with a percentage of 37,82%, followed by DISY with a percentage of 31,58% with DIKO having a percentage of 6,73% and EDEK 3,43%.
The focus of the election is reform
As expected, the central slogan of the pre-election period is the intention to unite Agia Napa with Sotira and Liopetri, despite the proposed scenario for the unification of the four municipalities of free Famagusta.
In fact, during the meeting of the General Secretary of AKEL with the candidate Emilia Evangelou-Xydia, which the party supports, Andros Kyprianou stated that especially with regard to Ayia Napa, in the light of the discussions on the reform of the Local Government, disagrees with the proposal submitted by the Minister of Interior. "Ayia Napa has its own characteristics and all this should be taken in the decisions that will be taken", he said and stressed that he will insist until the end that the one who must decide on the perspective and future of a Municipality is the local community. the citizens.
"There should be a transitional period," said Andros Kyprianou, "there should be synergies between neighboring municipalities, and in the end, with referendums, the citizens should decide what they would like to see in terms of the future and prospects of their municipality," he said. and expressed AKEL's support for the candidacy of Mrs. Xydia, who formulates a proposal in the interest of the Citizens of Ayia Napa. "We are absolutely confident that with the support it will have in general, it will be able to lead Ayia Napa even further," he said.
The report of Andros Kyprianou brought the response of DISY, who through a statement of the Spokesman stated that “Andros Kyprianou's insistence on holding referendums, despite the fact that this issue was raised before the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Union of Municipalities on November 2 and there it was decided to proceed with the referendum without referendums, unfortunately it proves that the party of the left insists on adding obstacles to the realization of another important change that will improve the level. life of our fellow citizens. "
Voters
3334 voters have the right to participate in the elections, of which 2687 are Cypriots and 647 are Communists, who will be distributed in 4 polling stations.
Famagusta.News