Nationwide voter turnout for European election reaches 38.6 per cent at 3pm

As of 3pm, 38.6 per cent of the total registered voters, totalling 269,727 people, have cast their votes for the European elections, chief returning officer Elikkos Elia.

Compared to the turnout at the 2019 European Parliament elections, which stood at 29 per cent, Elia noted an increased turnout by 9.6 percentage points, while compared to the 2016 local elections, which stood at 44 per cent, turnout has decreased by 5.4 percentage points. During the 2023 presidential elections, turnout by 3pm was at 55.6 per cent.

Regarding the turnout of Turkish Cypriots in the ongoing European elections, Elia reported that, so far, 4,110 voters have attended the special polling stations and exercised their voting rights out of a total of 103,281 registered in the special electoral roll.

Once again, he urged voters to come to the polls by 6pm to exercise their voting rights and not to wait until the last minute.

He also mentioned that, according to information from the interior ministry, voting is proceeding smoothly, adding that there are no complaints of voters are having difficulty due to the increased number of ballot papers received.

Asked whether there have been complaints about messages sent by candidates to voters urging them to come to the polls, Elia explained that there have been no specific complaints, except for some minor reports of publications on websites that were made before the ban.

Regarding voting for people with dual citizenship and whether there was any instance of erroneous double voting, the chief returning officer said that he discussed the matter with the Legal Service and clarified that the EU mutual recognition system includes Europeans with only one citizenship.

He added that in such cases, if an EU national declares citizenship in one country and has been residing in another throughout the past six months, there is a mutual recognition system so that they can vote only once.

“Based on legislation and European law, a European citizen can vote only once and in one country,” he clarified.