Govt ponders opening polling station in Brussels for parliamentary election

The government is considering opening a polling station in Brussels for May’s parliamentary election, interior ministry permanent secretary Elikkos Elia said on Saturday.

He told the Cyprus News Agency that the government is currently compiling a special electoral register of people who are to vote abroad, and that typically, the government would require there to be around 600 registered voters in any given place for a polling station to be opened there.

Typically, he said, “the only cities abroad which can amass a significant number of voters are Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, London, and Manchester”.

However, this time around, with Cyprus having undertaken the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency for a six-month term which began in January, he said that “a large number of Cypriots are working in Brussels”.

As such, he said, Brussels “has been added as an option”.

People who want to register to vote abroad can do so either on the government’s website, at elections.gov.cy, or in paper form by submitting the relevant form to a Cypriot embassy, high commission or consulate in Greece or in the United Kingdom.

They can also file applications at district administration offices, citizen service centres, and citizen centres at post offices in Cyprus.

At the most recent parliamentary elections in 2021, a total of 10 polling stations were opened abroad, four of which were in Athens, four of which were in London, and two of which were in Thessaloniki.

More recently, at the European Parliament elections of 2024, a total of 17 polling stations were opened outside of Cyprus.

In Greece, were opened in Athens, two were opened in Thessaloniki, one each were opened in Patras, Heraklion, Ioannina, Komotini, and Volos.

Outside of Greece, three polling stations were opened in London, and one each were opened in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, and Brussels.

At the time, exactly 4,691 people had registered to vote abroad.