The Electoral Court rejected the electoral application of the candidate for Mayor of Ayia Napa in the election of December 18, 2016, Vassos Vassilios and the Representative of AKEL, Chrysanthos Zannetos, requesting the annulment of the election of Giannis Karousos as Mayor of Agia N.
The election application has been pending since last February, while the decision was issued yesterday rejecting the election application.
According to the decision of the Electoral Court, secured by KYPE, the reasons for seeking the annulment of the election process are essentially focused on the fact that the District of Famagusta, the General Election Commissioner and the Minister of Interior did not conduct the proper investigation into the objections. which were made regarding the registration of persons in the electoral lists of the Municipality of Ag. Napas, with the result that, as claimed by the applicants, the process suffers.
As mentioned in the decision, the applicants sought a decree of the Electoral Court declaring the election process invalid, as well as a decree for the annulment of the election of the current Mayor, Giannis Karousou.
Reference to the facts as they are set out in the electoral application
The decision refers to the events, noting that the District Secretary of AKEL, who was generally responsible for the elections in the province of Famagusta, Chrysanthos Zannettos in various cases between 17.4.15 - 24.10.16 sent letters to the Prefect A that The data collected raised reasonable suspicions that a significant number of voters, who were listed in the supplementary electoral lists of the Municipality of Ag. Napas, have presented false information, in order to succeed in their registration in the electoral list and further submitted an objection on behalf of AKEL.
Mr. Zanettos nominated specific individuals to investigate whether they had the right to register to vote and further complained that the Ayia Napa mayor had posted the supplementary voter list late.
He also sent a letter to the Minister of Interior informing him of the above complaints, while the latter informed him that specific objections could be submitted.
The District of Famagusta on 8.11.16 informed, among others, Mr. Zannetto that the time limits for examining the objections were so limited that it was impossible to control most of the objections, in view of the fact that the staff of the District Administration was small and it was impossible to respond to such a large number of objections.
Afterwards, Mr. Zannettos informed the General Election Commissioner about relevant complaints that were brought before him.
Appeal to the Electoral Court
In his appeal to the Electoral Court, Mr. Zanettos claimed that the District of Famagusta, the General Election Commissioner and the Minister of Interior did not conduct the proper investigation and did not examine the objections, with the result that the process suffers.
In addition, he referred to errors in the counting, sorting, ranking, recording of votes as well as claimed that there were errors in the transfer of results from each ballot box to the District Administration in the computerization and in their official announcement.
Decision of the Electoral Court
The Electoral Court ruled that the reasons for which the annulment was sought do not fall within the grounds of annulment, as defined in Article 58 of the Law.
"Furthermore, the election application does not stipulate that there was no compliance with the provisions of a specific law. And something equally important and so things did not happen, which does not happen, it is not determined that non-compliance with the provisions of the Law affected the outcome of the election. Therefore, the reasons for which cancellation is requested are not reasons for cancellation of the election as they are defined in the Law and consequently the electoral application suffers and is exposed to rejection ", the decision states.
In relation to the electoral application, which states that there were reasonable suspicions that a significant number of voters on the supplementary electoral rolls presented false information in order to be eligible to register and that further eligible voters were not included in the electoral roll. In it, the Electoral Court ruled that "the case law indicates that the registration or deletion of a person on an electoral roll constitutes an administrative act".
"The person who has a legal interest has the right to file an appeal against the administrative act within the deadline set. The present procedure is not of an administrative nature nor does the electoral court decide on the basis of the principles of administrative law. In this case the registration of persons in the electoral list of the Municipality of Ag. Napas and the non-registration of others constitute an administrative act within the meaning of the Law, subject to appeal under Article 146 of the Constitution. Therefore, the Court does not acquire jurisdiction to examine the specific issue and consequently the relevant motion of the defendant's defendant to the contrary is rejected in the present case ", the decision states.
Electoral contest percentages of December 18, 2016
It is noted that in the electoral process that took place on December 18, 2016, Mr. Vassilios received 910 votes, while Mr. Karousos received 1682 votes out of a total of 2.592 valid ballots and thus the latter was proclaimed Mayor of Ag. Go.
Statement by G. Karousos
Invited by KYPE to comment on the decision, the Mayor of Ayia Napa expressed his full satisfaction and referred to his justification.
"I feel completely justified and I am glad that this issue is over, because the elections ended on December 18 and in fact with a big difference in the votes that did not need to be questioned. "Of course, everyone had the right to appeal and take whatever measures they considered right to defend any issue they had," he said.
He added that "now is the time for everyone to understand that the elections ended on December 18 and to let the Mayor and the new Municipal Council work for the good and progress of Ayia Napa."
Answering a question from KYPE, Mr. Karousos said that he does not know the reasons why Mr. Vassilios and Mr. Zanettos acted in tension, adding that in most appeals made for the cancellation of the electoral process, the only thing that is achieved is the psychological pressure exerted on the way operation of the Municipal Council.
He added that "the new Board of Directors has laid a solid foundation, in order to proceed to produce its policy smoothly and to implement the difficult task it has undertaken".
Regarding the electoral list, which Mr. Vassilios requested his "liquidation", the Mayor of Ayia Napa said: "I do not believe that it needs to be liquidated. It is not right to come and question the work done by a service. The procedures for Ayia Napa were the most correct of all the procedures performed in the other municipalities ".
Source: KYPE