Everything is running according to our planning and on Sunday I am confident that the election process will run smoothly, and in the evening we will have the results in the shortest possible time, so that we can proceed with the ceremony of proclaiming the new President of the Republic of Cyprus in the shortest possible time, said the Chief Electoral Officer Dr Kostas Constantinou.
The Chief Electoral Officer went to the Government Printing Office today to observe the process of delivery of the last ballot papers to the Electoral Officers.
Dr. Constantinou, in a statement to reporters, said that the delivery of ballot papers to the last Electoral District, Nicosia, is being completed today.
He informed that on Tuesday the ballot papers were delivered to the Registrar of Foreign Affairs, "on Wednesday they were delivered to the Registrars of Limassol, Larnaca, Famagusta and Paphos and today to the Registrar of the Nicosia District," adding that the Government Printing Office is today completing its work in relation to the by-election as well.
He noted that all other procedures are proceeding at the same time.
"The Overseas Supervisor has already handed over the ballot boxes to the presiding officers. As of yesterday, the overseas transfer of the Presiding Officers and their assistants began, which will continue today and will be completed on Saturday," he said.
He explained that "around 90 people will staff the polling stations abroad, where, together with other local staff, they will form the staff for the conduct of the elections in the 35 polling stations abroad."
According to the Registrar General, a meeting was held yesterday with representatives of the staffs of the two successful candidates who have advanced to the second round of the Presidential Elections, Mr. Andreas Mavroyiannis and Mr. Nikos Christodoulides. He noted that the whole procedure, which will be followed in the second round of the elections, was explained to them and "in addition, we informed them in detail regarding the ceremony and the process of proclamation of the new President of the Republic, which will take place on Sunday evening, around 10 pm, at the closed stadium "Tassos Papadopoulos - Eleftheria".
"All arrangements have been made so that people can attend the proclamation ceremony," said the Curator General, informing that the operational planning for security issues has been done by the Cyprus Police, while the Press and Information Office has undertaken the facilitation of the Media, as well as a number of organizational issues.
"Everything is running according to our planning. I am confident that this coming Sunday will also run smoothly and we will have a smooth electoral process."
He went on to call on "our fellow citizens who are registered on the electoral roll to plan to exercise their right to vote on Sunday."
On the occasion of some minor issues observed last Sunday, the Auditor General said they have looked into them with his staff and have taken corrective action. He informed that with regard to the closing of the polls, which takes place at 12pm, crowding was observed in some cases.
"It is my earnest appeal to our fellow citizens to come to the polls on time, before 12pm and not to stay at the last minute." He noted that the presiding officers have been instructed to accommodate our fellow citizens who will arrive at the polling stations at the time of the temporary suspension of voting, 12 noon, if their numbers are small. But if the number of voters is large, he added, "then unfortunately, considering the health measures that are in place, we will have to ask them to return back at 1 p.m. so that they can vote." "So it is my earnest request that we find a time that is convenient for us to vote, but that we do not stay to come at the last minute, before they close, either at 12 p.m. or 6 p.m."
Asked to quote the number of ballot papers delivered by the Government Printing Office, the Auditor General replied that Nicosia has "the lion's share", with more than 610 printed in total.500 ballot papers in order to cover all the registered voters on the electoral roll, which he said is 561,273.
"We have printed around 5% additional ballot papers to be available in case for any reason they are destroyed or deemed unsuitable," he pointed out.
Asked about the time of the announcement of the final result and whether it is expected around 8 - 830 p.m, like last time, the Auditor General replied that this Sunday the results are expected faster.
He explained that there are two candidates in this Sunday's election process compared to the previous election process which had 14 candidates.
"You understand that the sorting and counting is different," he said, stressing that barring any unforeseen problems, the goal is to "have the final or near-final results by 7:30 p.m." He explained that after the final results, another process is needed, in which "the Registries of the Constituencies continue the checks, so that after these checks are also completed, only then will we issue the final official result." "To make a declaration, it is not enough to have only the final result, but we must have the final official result," he explained, through which all the results are confirmed.
Finally, according to the Registrar General, the delivery of the caps to all presiding officers who will staff the polling stations in all constituencies for the conduct of the 2023 Presidential Elections on Sunday, February 12, 2023 will also be completed tomorrow.
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