HOW TO REGISTER ON THE ELECTORAL LIST FOR MUNICIPAL AND EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS
Non-Cypriot EU nationals, aged 18 and over, resident in Cyprus have the right to vote and to stand as candidates in municipal elections to elect Mayors, Community leaders and local council members. In addition to voting in local elections, all EU nationals resident in Cyprus also have the right to vote and to stand as candidates in European Parliamentary elections.
IF YOU HAVE YOUR YELLOW SLIP, PLEASE GO STRAIGHT TO ITEM 2.
Steps you need to take:
1 Obtain a Cyprus yellow permit. To obtain this, you need to go to the Immigration Office. You should do this within 4 months of permanent settlement. At the bottom of the hill, at Papantiniou traffic lights, turn left and continue along this road, past where the new Post Office was. The Immigration Office is on the right hand side on the 2nd floor above the ceramic shop, on the corner of the first right hand turn. When you go to the Immigration Office, you need to take your passport. They will give you an appointment together with a sheet listing the documents you need to take with you to that appointment. You need to apply for this appointment in person. You may have to wait a 4-8 weeks for this appointment.
When you attend the appointment with all the supporting documentation requested, you will receive your yellow slip. If you are not working, no further visits to the Immigration Office will be required and the slip will be renewed by post.
2 Get together the yellow slip, your passport and 2 recent passport sized photographs [if you don’t have any photographs, don’t worry, they can be taken by digital camera at the Citizens Advice Centre, free of charge]. Complete the application form attached. You will need to have been resident in Cyprus for at least 6 months.
Please note that previously you needed a Cypriot ID card to register for a vote. This is no longer the case as ID cards are no longer being issued to non-Cypriots. You should, however, insert your passport number in the box where the Identity Card No is requested.
Call into the Tala Council office and obtain a stamp on the form from the Mukhtar – you may need to leave the form overnight and collect it the next day.
3 Take the documents as listed above to the Citizens Advice Centre [Tel No 26 822 400]. This is the building on Butcher Boy Road, opposite Cucina [there is car parking on the street behind the Citizens Advice Centre, or behind Cucina]. The Office is open 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday. You must attend personally with your application. If the staff there think that any photos you take with you are out of date, new photographs will be taken.
When you arrive at the Citizens Advice Bureau you will be asked what matter you are there for and will be handed a coloured slip with a number on. Take a seat and your coloured slip and number will be called – usually in English or Greek and English and you will be directed to the desk of the person to help you.
4 You will be given a computer generated receipt and your passport and other documents will be handed back to you.
5 An election book [for local elections only] will be sent to you care of the Tala Community Board office. You will need to pick this up personally. This book must be presented when you go to vote in local elections. The book should be available at Tala Community Board office within approximately 6-8 weeks.
6 For European elections, you need to complete a separate form which can be obtained from Cathi on toffee@primehome.com. Please note that you can only have a vote in one country for the European elections and that no voting book is issued for the European election.
Please note that the electoral rolls are updated every three months [January, April, July and October]. To qualify for a vote in the 2016 local elections, you must have registered by the end of September 2016*.
* The provisional month for the elections will be December 2016 but this may possibly be changed to fall in line with the general Government elections in Spring 2017.
IF YOU HAVE A VOTE IN ANOTHER COMMUNITY ON THE ISLAND AND WISH TO TRANSFER YOUR VOTE TO TALA
A separate form must be completed to show that you are changing address – this form can be obtained from Cathi on toffee@primehome.com. Again the form will need to be stamped by the Mukhtar and then taken down to the Citizens Advice Bureau with your voting book.
New photographs will be taken if the office staff feel they are required. You will be given a computer generated receipt and the new voting book with your vote transferred to Tala will be sent to Tala Council office.