Press Releases

The process of submission of candidacies for the elections of the new members of the European Parliament took place today at the Filoxenia Conference Centre in Lefkosia. 

At the end of the process, the Chief Returning Officer, Dr Elikkos Elia, made the following statement:

“The submission process for the six (6) Cypriot Members of the European Parliament has been successfully completed. The whole process went smoothly and without any issues, and for that, I would like to thank all the candidates and their electoral campaign teams.

A total of 63 candidacies were submitted. 61 candidates are running with a party list and 2 as independent individual candidates. The candidacies also include 3 Turkish Cypriot citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. 45 people or 71% are men, while 18 people or 29% are women.

In accordance with Article 21 of the Law on the Election of Members of the European Parliament, in conjunction with Article 21 of the Law on Parliamentary Election, from the end of the submission of candidacies, i.e. from now, a period of 24 hours, i.e. until 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, 25^th of April, 2024, is granted for the submission of any objections to any candidacies on the grounds specified in the Law. Objections may be submitted to my office at the Ministry of Interior. If there are no objections, all the people listed in the notice, which has already been posted on the site, will be included on the ballot paper on 9^th of June, 2024. In the event that objections are raised, they will be considered and decided upon as soon as possible, so that the candidacies can then be finalised.

We are already in consultation with the Government Printing Office for the preparation of the ballot paper, which will be presented to the representatives of the lists and individual candidates tomorrow. Once it is finalised, the Government Printing Office will be instructed to begin printing.

I wish the best of luck to all candidates, and I look forward to their cooperation throughout the campaign period for the successful completion of the electoral process in an exemplary and impeccable manner, without any issues.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues in the administration of the Ministry of Interior, the Assistant Returning Officer, Mr Menelaos Vasileiou, the Press and Information Office, the Director General of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, the Cyprus Police, as well as the Director General of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works for the preparation and flawless execution of today’s event, which reflects in the best way, both in Cyprus and abroad, the great work done for the organisation of these elections. I would also like to thank the Elections Officers, the staff of the Ministry of Interior and the staff of the District Administrations who work tirelessly and vigorously for many hours daily for the preparation and the conduct of the elections, which, admittedly, are the most difficult elections ever held in the Republic of Cyprus. Moreover, I would like to thank the Attorney General of the Republic and the Officers of the Law Office of the Republic for their guidance and legal advice. Lastly, I would like to thank the Director General of the Ministry of Finance for his excellent cooperation, as well as all of you, the media, for helping us inform the Cypriot citizens about the upcoming elections on a daily basis.

I wish and urge the candidates to take advantage of the opportunity given to them, to go to the polls on the 9^th of June and vote both for Cyprus’ representatives in the European Parliament for the next five years and for the offices of the Local Government, which is directly related to our daily lives and enters its new phase from the 1^st of July.”

(GS/IT)