MOI


No.1 Sunday, 5/2/2023

Presidential Elections 2023 – Statement by the Chief Returning Officer, Dr Costas Constantinou, on the commencement of the voting

At 7 a.m. the voting commenced for the election of the President of the Republic of Cyprus. 561.273 persons in total have the right to vote.

Ballot boxes were opened in all 1.113 polling stations in the Republic of Cyprus, as well as in the 15 polling stations in Greece and the one in Bulgaria. At 9 a.m. Cyprus time, the ballot box in the United Arab Emirates is expected to be opened, the ballot boxes in the UK, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Luxemburg are expected to be opened at 10 a.m., while the ballot box in the USA is expected to be opened at 2:00 p.m..

The competent services of the state are on stand-by, since last night, in order to make sure that any problems that may arise due to weather conditions are faced immediately, to enable the unhindered movement of voters to the polling stations.

Voting commenced smoothly, without any problems, and will continue until 12 noon. After one hour interval, voting will recommence at 1:00 p.m. and will end at 6:00 p.m., at which time ballot boxes both in the Republic of Cyprus as well as abroad will be closed. It is noted that, in exceptional cases, voting at a polling station may be prolonged, if a large number of voters are still waiting to cast their vote at the expected time of closure of the voting.

As Chief Returning Officer, I call upon all voters to come to the polling stations to exercise their right to vote, and make their choice in a responsible manner.

We will be here to update citizens regularly on the election process.

I wish you all a good vote.

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