Voting for the election of the President of the Republic of Cyprus began at 7 a.m.
As stated by Chief Election Officer Costas Konstantinou, a total of 561,273 people are eligible to vote.
Polling stations opened at all 1,113 polling centers operating in the Republic of Cyprus, as well as at the 15 polling centers in Greece and the one in Bulgaria.
At 9:00 a.m. Cyprus time, polls opened in the United Arab Emirates; at 10:00 a.m., polls opened in the United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Luxembourg, while polling stations in the United States will open at 2:00 p.m.
The relevant government agencies have been on standby since last night and are taking steps to ensure that any problems that may arise, due to weather conditions, are addressed immediately so that voters can travel to their polling places without any disruptions.
Voting began smoothly, without any problems, and will continue until 12:00 p.m. After a one-hour break, it will resume at 1:00 p.m. and end at 6:00 p.m., at which time the polls will close both in Cyprus and abroad.
Please note that, in exceptional cases, voting at a polling place may be extended if a large number of voters are expected to cast their ballots by the time voting is scheduled to end.
Voter turnout stood at 11.7% as of 10:00
11.7% of voters had cast their ballots island-wide by 10:00 a.m., while voting to elect a new President of the Republic of Cyprus is currently underway.
According to Chief Election Officer Costas Konstantinou, compared to the same time during the previous presidential election in 2018, this percentage has increased by 1.2 percentage points.
561,033 voters
The total number of people eligible to vote in today’s presidential election is 561,033. This number includes 730 Turkish Cypriots. In addition, 240 enclaved persons are eligible to vote, 47 in the Nicosia electoral district and 193 in the Famagusta electoral district.
The 301 prisoners will be able to vote at a special ballot box inside the prison, which will be combined with the ballot box at the Department of Urban Planning and Housing.
A total of 730 Turkish Cypriots who have a permanent address in the free areas will also be eligible to vote in the elections.
For the purposes of conducting the election, 1,148 polling stations will be open, of which 1,113 are located in 5 electoral districts in Cyprus and 35 are located abroad, in 25 cities across 12 countries.
In Greece, centers will be operating in Athens (5), Volos, Heraklion, Thessaloniki (3), Ioannina, Komotini, Larissa, Patras, and Rethymno,
In the United Kingdom, centers will operate in Glasgow, Leeds, London (5), Manchester, Birmingham, and Bristol, as well as in Berlin, Vienna, Brussels, New York, Dubai, Luxembourg, Paris, Sofia, Stockholm, and The Hague.
Over the past three months, there were 10,558 new registrations on the voter rolls. This number is slightly higher than the figure for the 2018 presidential election, which was 10,410, but significantly lower than the figure for the 2021 parliamentary elections, which was 15,168.
The Nicosia District has the largest number of registered voters—specifically, 215,772—followed by Limassol with 154,778, Larnaca with 95,518, Paphos with 51,994, and Free Famagusta with 32,625.
Another 10,346 chose to vote at polling stations that will be set up abroad.
The number of registered voters has increased by 10,397 compared to the 2018 presidential election.
Of the total number of registered voters, 285,004, or 50.8%, are women, and 276,029, or 49.2%, are men.
13.8% of voters are between the ages of 18 and 29, 50.4% are between the ages of 30 and 59, and 35.8% are 60 and older.
The elections will be held in accordance with a health protocol drafted in collaboration with the Cyprus Ministry of Health.
This protocol provides that, as is the case for individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are registered on the voter rolls, they are granted, on an exceptional basis, the opportunity, on Election Day to go to the polling place to cast their vote during the same hours as the rest of the population.
In addition, the use of a protective mask is mandatory for patients with COVID-19, as well as for individuals who will be present the entire duration of voting and/or the sorting and counting of ballots at the polling station—that is, election officials and candidates’ representatives.
It is recommended that all other voters wear a protective mask.
The first official results are expected shortly before 9:00 p.m.
If the candidate with the most preferential votes fails to secure 50+1 percent of the votes, the top two candidates by number of votes will advance to the second round on the following Sunday, February 12, at which time the new President of the Republic will be elected and declared.
