41% of the objections submitted against the supplementary electoral rolls of April 2, 2024 were approved, the Director General of the Ministry of Interior Dr. Elikkos Ilias, in his statements today to the media representatives. According to Dr. Ilias, a total of 3.560 objections were submitted, of which 1.461 were approved and 2.099 (59%) were rejected.
Referring to the applications submitted in the period from January 3, 2024 to April 2, 2014, he noted that a total of 25.914 applications were submitted for first registration in the electoral rolls and 20.890 applications for transfer of electoral rights due to a change of voter address.
"During the period when the electoral rolls were posted, a total of 3.560 objections were submitted, of which 559 concerned Nicosia District, 1.564 Limassol District, 102 Famagusta District, 123 Larnaca District, 1.212 Paphos District and 3 Kyrenia District", said the General Manager. Continuing, he noted that all objections were examined by the concerned District Governors.
In the Nicosia District, the municipal areas with more than 50 objections are the municipal districts of Lakatamia with 176, Anthoupolis with 69 and Aglantzia with 65, while the Communities with the most objections are Denia with 46, Flasou with 42, Saradi with 19, Byzakia with 16, Pachyammos with 14 and Arediou with 13. 272 of the objections of Nicosia District or 49% were approved, while 287 or 51% were rejected.
In the District of Limassol, the municipal areas with more than 50 objections are the municipal apartments of Mesa Geitonia with 445, Kato Polemidion with 197, Ypsona with 110, Limassol with 89 and Agios Tychonas with 50. The Communities, for which the largest number of objections is Foini with 136, Fasoula with 46, Lofou, Zoopigi and Apsio with 43, Pissouri with 35 and Agios Georgios Sylikou with 24. 872 or 56% of Limassol's objections were approved, while 692 or 44% were rejected.
In Famagusta District, the only municipal area with more than 50 objections is the municipal district of Agia Napa, with 54 objections, while 44 objections were submitted for the municipal district of Paralimni. A total of 48 objections or 47% of Famagusta have been approved, while 54 objections or 53% have been rejected.
For the Larnaca District, the municipal district of Tersefanou with 36 objections and the Communities of Zygiou and Tochni with 26 and 14 objections, respectively, are noted. Of the 123 objections submitted for Larnaca District, 12 or 10% were approved, while 111 objections or 90% were rejected.
From the Paphos District, Paphos Municipality stands out with 497 objections, Pegeia with 299, Geroskipou with 62, Chloraka with 54, Konia with 28, Amargeti with 17, Neo Chorio with 16 and Pentalia with 15. of the 1.212 objections submitted for Paphos District, 257 or 21% were approved, while 955 objections or 79% were rejected.
For the Kyrenia District, 3 objections were submitted concerning the occupied Kormakitis, which were rejected in their entirety.
According to Dr. Ilias, "after the completion of the process of examining the objections, the process of updating the population file system is underway. The electoral rolls will then be finalized and used for the upcoming elections."
He also emphasized that some of the incidents - which also saw the light of day - were particularly serious. As he pointed out, in accordance with the provisions of article 103 of the Population Register Law, "any person who knowingly provides false information in relation to the compilation of the electoral roll or in any investigation carried out by the District or intentionally refuses to provide any information , is guilty of a criminal offence. Therefore, the Ministry of the Interior has asked the Districts to record all the cases, for which a case can be established. These will be forwarded as soon as possible to the Attorney General of the Republic for evaluation and measures."
In relation to the next steps, the Director General of the Ministry of the Interior indicated that the submission of nominations for the European elections will take place on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at the "Hospitality" Conference Center, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.. The submission of nominations for the Presidents of the Provincial Self-Governing Organizations will take place on Thursday, April 25, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. – 12.30:29 p.m., in places determined by the relevant Electors and published in today's edition of the Official Gazette of the Republic and in the printed press. The submission of nominations for the Municipal Elections and School Board Member Elections will take place on the same day and hours. Nominations for the Community Election will take place on Monday, April 2024, 8, between the hours of 30:12.30 a.m. and XNUMX p.m., in places determined by the concerned Electors and also published in today's edition of the Official Gazette of the Republic and in the printed press.
Asked if these objections were directed by specific parties or candidates, Mr. Ilias indicated that there are indications that this may have been the case, however, he continued, "we are at the initial stage of the investigation and I would prefer to let the Police do their work , in order to see who is behind these objections that have been made and the false statements and to look for the culprits, who I hope will be punished". The Director General noted that the investigation may not be completed until June 9, as time is needed for documentation. He said the Home Office would then contact the Legal Service on how to proceed.
Asked to say whether the Ministry is oriented towards taking measures and introducing safety measures, to avoid this phenomenon in the future, Dr. Elias explained that, following instructions from the Minister of the Interior, it will be investigated how the legislation can be changed. Possibly, he said, one measure would be to use the address where someone lived a year before the Election instead of a few months as is the case now. He added that, in collaboration with the Population Record and the IT Services Department, some other options are also being considered, in order to find the most effective method of checking addresses.
In a question specifically about the large number of objections rejected in Paphos and asked to say what the consequences will be for the false statements, Dr. Ilias reiterated that the reasons why some objections were rejected will be investigated by the Police. He explained that a person who gives false information in relation to the compilation of the electoral roll, is guilty of a criminal offense and, in case of conviction, is liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding €1.000 or to both of these penalties . "However, beyond this provision, we are also considering other issues, such as for example false declaration or alteration of signature", he said.
Responding to a related question, the General Director pointed out that "the objections, which were approved by the Prefects, means they had some basis to be approved and probably had false information and they are the ones we should focus on". He conveyed the willingness of the District Administrations to cooperate with the Police and to provide any information and applications, in order for the cases to be examined by the Police.
Mr. Ilias said that the Provincial Administrations contacted by phone the persons who applied for the transfer of their electoral rights to confirm their address of residence. Characteristically, he said that in some cases, these persons did not even know the address they had declared, which points to a false declaration. In addition, on-site visits were carried out by supervisors of the District Administrations. He clarified that during the investigation, the legislation allows the Officers of the District Administrations to request any information (eg electricity bill) in order to prove whether the address declared by a person is correct. Most of the reactions, he added, came from citizens who made false statements.
Asked if the Prefects are sure that the objections that were accepted are correct, Mr. Ilias answered in the affirmative, saying that the decisions were made based on the judgment of the Prefects and the checks that were made, without excluding the possibility that in a few cases a mistake was made.
When asked if the number of objections is greater compared to previous years, the Director General of the Ministry of the Interior answered positively, saying that there is great interest in these Elections.
Finally, responding to the question of whether there might be fraud due to the movement of voters, Mr. Ilias said that this depends on the difference in the outcome of the electoral process. "If, for example, in a municipality we have an election with a difference of two votes, then the candidate who loses has every right to investigate the issue further," he said.
He clarified that approval of an objection means that the voter will vote in the district where he was previously registered. Finally, he reminded that from the beginning of May the electronic service "What I vote for" will be activated, where citizens will be able to be informed what exactly they should vote for, while around May 10 the "Where I vote" service will also be activated, through which will vote.