The Election Service and the parties are in a race against time. The former wants to have everything ready by June 9 and the parties want to convince their people to vote.
But at the same time, the Election Service and the parties still have a common concern that has to do with the complexity of the elections and the many questions people have. What scares the Election Service is the delay that may be experienced at polling stations, while the parties are concerned about invalid votes and absenteeism.
On Friday, the Election Service launched the “Where I Vote” platform, which has been integrated with the “What I Vote” platform. By entering their identity and date of birth, each voter can find out the polling station where they can vote and at the same time, the ballot papers they can get and the preference crosses available for each candidate.
The “Where and What I Vote” service is available through the website of the Central Election Service of the Ministry of Interior at the link www.elections.gov.cy, in Greek, Turkish, and English.
The parties are also on an election awareness campaign, and in their contacts with people, they are finding that people have many questions and this is creating a concern that this may lead some people to decide not to vote.
The Electoral Service also holds all the information concerning the 9 June elections.
Each voter will be reminded that each voter will receive up to six ballots. Refugees will also vote for their place of origin at a separate polling station.
All ballots will be cast in one ballot box. For the convenience of voters in exercising their right to vote, and for the convenience of officials in the process of sorting and counting the votes, the ballot papers have been printed in different colors depending on the type of election, namely:
- Members of the European Parliament: Blue
- Presidents of District Organization of Local Government: Purple
- Mayors: Yellow
- Deputy Mayors: Brown
- Municipal Councillors: White
- School Board Members: Green
- Community Leaders: Orange
- Community Council Members: Grey
It is also noted that to be admitted to the polling station and to be given a ballot paper to vote, the voter must be registered in the relevant electoral register of the polling station concerned and present a voter’s booklet or political identity card. Citizens of other EU Member States may also vote with any other document presented for registration on the special electoral rolls, while displaced persons may vote by presenting a political identity card, passport, driver’s license, or any other official document of the Republic bearing their photograph.
It is also stressed that voters are not entitled to vote for candidates from different combinations and/or individual candidates, as in such a case the ballot paper will be invalid.
However, if the voter so wishes, he or she may indicate his or her preference for a particular candidate or candidates of the combination of his or her choice by marking a cross or crosses of preference in the small squares next to the name of each candidate.
For MEPs, you can put up to two crosses for candidates of the same electoral combination.ballot papers. election service, parties, voting process