Origins of the
Peyia Community Association

On Sunday 4th September 2005 a municipal by-election was held in Peyia forty days after the resignation of the previous mayor Demetris Kappetzis, who resigned due to ill health. These were the first municipal elections to be held in Cyprus since the republic was admitted into the European Union on the 1st May 2004 and should have been the first election in which non-Cypriot nationals were eligible to vote.

But despite it being a fundamental legal right under EU law for non-Cypriot EU national residents to be allowed to vote, in this and similar elections, the eligible residents were denied this right and were unable to vote because Cyprus law was lagging behind that of Europe.

In the run up to the this election the non-Cypriot EU national residents who were entitled to vote, because of earlier registration, were told that they would not be able to vote as the government had not yet adopted the necessary legislation.

However EU legal experts confirmed that EU law enshrines the right of all EU nationals to vote in municipal elections (so long as they satisfy their residency requirements) and that the Cypriot government should have amended the law by the accession date.

To draw attention to this fact, whilst the Cypriot residents of Peyia went to cast their vote, a group of eligible non Cypriot EU national residents protested peacefully outside the polling station after being denied their right to vote in front of television cameras and newspaper media.

Prior to the election representations had been made to postpone the by-election so that the government could make the necessary amendments to the legislation. However this was refused as existing Cypriot legislation requires that an election has to take place no more that 40 days after the previous candidate resigns.

An official complaint was also made to the EU Ombudswoman in Cyprus, Lliana Nikolaou. However, whilst Brussels could not intervene in this by-election because of the time scale, the Ombudsman said she would investigate further into the matter of voting rights and into whether EC Directive 94/80/EC, which requires ‘Member States to take necessary measures to enable a voter within the scope of Article 3 to be entered on the electoral roll sufficiently in advance of polling day’ and also that ‘The Member State of residence shall inform voters… in good time and in an appropriate manner of the conditions and detailed arrangements for the exercise of their rights to vote and to stand as candidate in elections in that State’ had been breached.

The Peyia protest made news nationally and internationally. The numerous television reports and newspaper articles only highlighted the chaotic state of things with Government ministers, officials and also local government officers giving totally conflicting statements far to numerous to mention here.

The official report of the Ombudsman, dated 7th September, found the complaints made entirely justified and criticized weaknesses in the government’s implementation of EU legislation.

Within two weeks of the by-election the Government responded to the demands of the Peyia residents and to the advice of the Ombudsman. Voting registration forms became readily available at the District Office in both Greek and English giving non-Cypriot EU nationals the fundamental right to vote.

A simple step by step guide about how non-Cypriot nationals can register their right to vote was published and at a public meeting held on Tuesday 15th November 2005 to publicise the results of the ‘right to vote' campaign it was proposed that a steering committee be set up to establish a ‘residents association’ to act as a focus group for all residents of Peyia, both Cypriots and non–Cypriot alike.

This was the birth of the Peyia Community Association.

If you care enough about your Cyprus community and wish to exercise your fundemental right to vote in the local elections you can do so easily by registering at your Local District Office.

To register you will need to complete a simple form which should be available at all offices in English as well as Greek and a Cypriot ID card.

If in doubt you an click here to request a copy of our step by step guide.