Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 01-12-12

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] Cypriots vote in local elections on Sunday

[01] Cypriots vote in local elections on Sunday

1002:CYPPRESS:01

Cypriots vote in local elections on Sunday

Nicosia, Dec 12 (CNA) -- The final countdown to local elections on December 16 has begun in Cyprus.

An overall 170,955 voters go to the polls on Sunday to elect the mayors of 30 municipalities, 21 of which are in the government-controlled areas of Cyprus and nine in the areas occupied by Turkish troops since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

The mayors of three more municipalities, those of Pafos, Lefkoniko and Lysi, have already been elected uncontested. Elections for municipal councils will be held for 32 towns, excluding Lefkoniko.

The post of mayor of Nicosia, the only remaining divided capital in the world, is contested by Michael Zambelas, a chartered accountant running as an independent candidate and supported by the right-wing Democratic Rally party and Kypros Chrysostomides, a lawyer, as candidate of the three-party "Municipal Cooperation" comprising left-wing AKEL, the centre Democratic Party and the Socialdemocrats Movement.

An overall 81 candidacies have been submitted for the post of mayor and 1,676 for the 398 posts of municipal councillors.

Twenty-seven mayoral candidates are backed by the three-party "Municipal Cooperation" while the Democratic Rally backs nine of the 81 candidates. There are 43 independent candidates and two more are backed by other political movements.

Nicosia district has ten municipalities, Limassol five, Famagusta seven, Larnaca four, Pafos four and Kyrenia three.

The names of the new mayors and heads of communities are expected to be known at about 8 pm on Sunday and shortly after midnight the counting process is expected to be concluded for municipal and community council members.

Some 1,200 polling centres will operate throughout the free areas of Cyprus.

Elections for heads of communities will be held in 240 out of 355 villages in the free areas of Cyprus. In the remaining villages, the candidates were unopposed and have been declared elected. Elections for community councils will be held in 247 villages.

In Cyprus, voting is compulsory for all. For the first time, counting will be done at polling stations instead of at central district centres. Also, mobile polls will be used to facilitate voting for those working at polling centres.

Voters from the nine occupied and five semi-occupied municipalities of Cyprus have the right to vote twice, both for the municipality in which they currently reside and for the occupied municipalities they have been displaced from, as a result of occupation.

It is estimated that Sunday's elections will cost the State about 1,3 - 1,5 million pounds (one Cyprus pound trades at about 1,5 US dollars).

CNA/RM/TT/2001

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