The General Election Commissioner Dr. Kostas Constantinou, in the context of his statement on voter turnout by 3:00 p.m., answered questions from reporters.
In response to a reporter's question about whether there had been any allegations of telephone harassment of voters, the Supervisor General of Elections responded in the affirmative, adding: "We are in consultation with the Privacy Commissioner. The issue is not particularly extensive, but on the occasion of your question, I urge the electoral staffs whose candidates are participating in this electoral process to bear in mind that the provisions of the law must be complied with both in terms of electoral legislation and personal data protection legislation. This information is being recorded so that we can then evaluate it and, accordingly, and in cooperation with the Attorney General's office, take appropriate action. It is my earnest request again to the staffs so that this electoral process can be conducted smoothly. I think there is no need for these phone calls and this harassment to the extent that it is happening."
Asked if social media postings, which are increasing, according to a reporter's observation, urging people to vote for one candidate or another, are being prosecuted, Dr. Constantinou explained that "what we are monitoring is paid advertising."
He explained that "everyone's personal posting on a social network is extremely difficult to be able to monitor on an individual level, as there are thousands of accounts that exist."
"What the Press and Information Office monitors and supervises is paid advertising, entries in any kind of information medium, whether print, television, radio or online," he said.
Asked whether there were any problems in the electoral process, the Chief Electoral Officer referred to two isolated cases in which two voters attempted to photograph a ballot paper - one case in Nicosia and another in Larnaca.
He informed that "the presiding officers dealt with these cases. Instructions were given to the police, to the police officer on duty at that polling station, who took over the investigation of the case." He added that apart from these two incidents, there was nothing else.
After the conclusion of this election process as well, we will handle all the issues altogether, Dr. Constantine noted.
Finally, he said that during his tour of polling stations, he had observed one or two instances where exit polling companies had their polling booths near the exits of polling stations. "Recommendations were made that the ballot boxes be removed from the polling stations and be outside the entrance of the schools," he said."
"I have not seen anything else and I have no other information from the Registrars that have to do with the election process," the Auditor General concluded.
(EFF/IK)
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