Filenews 18 February 2022 - Frixos Dalitis
British permanent residents of Cyprus after Brexit have lost the right to vote and stand for election, as they are now, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, citizens of a third country. Therefore, they will have to leave the posts in which they were elected to local government councils, regardless of the extension given due to the reform debate. On the issue of the British, the Republic of Cyprus requested and received a relevant opinion from the Attorney General of the Republic, according to which the right to vote and stand for election in the Republic of Cyprus is determined on the basis of nationality and not residence. Therefore, the British permanent residents of Cyprus, after Britain's exit, lose this right and should have resigned from the posts they hold in community and municipal councils by January.
As we are informed, the Republic of Cyprus informed about those cases where they held elected positions in the Local Government, provoking protests on their behalf. Sources from the Interior Ministry told us that the Government is aware of the reactions, but this was the opinion of the Attorney General. As we have been told, this issue was one of the demands made by the United Kingdom in the context of Brexit. The Government politically was not negative on the basis of the philosophy of Local Government, that every citizen can have the right to vote and stand for election where he resides. However, the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus is clear. So there is no other option.
At the same time, among the demands was the preservation of the right of movement at the barricades, as is the case for European citizens. This arrangement would mainly facilitate the approximately 13,000 Britons who reside permanently in the occupied territories. A request for which again no exception could be made. It is noted that for residents of third countries the right of 30 days every six months applies. It was also requested that the facilities be maintained at airports.
On this issue, an affected British member of the Community Council of Talas sent a letter of protest to both the President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, and the Minister of Interior Nikos Nouris. Mrs. Kathy Delaney asks for a written explanation as to why she should hand over her position on the Talá Community Council at the time, stressing how she occupied the position with the votes of the citizens and that at the moment there are no elections to hand over her position.
"It is acceptable," she says, "that as it stands at the moment the people of the United Kingdom have lost their right to vote and stand for election in local elections. However, other European countries have found a way to deal with the problem."
In particular, she cites as examples Spain, Portugal Poland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Malta, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Switzerland. These countries, as it states in the letter in detail about each individual state, have made various arrangements giving either the right to vote or even the right to claim office in local elections. A prerequisite is the continuous stay for some period of time which ranges, according to what Mrs. Delaney cites, from 3 to 5 years of permanent presence. At the same time, in some cases there were bilateral agreements between the United Kingdom and the countries of residence.
Mrs. Delaney wonders how the Government can suddenly decide that she cannot remain in office and hand it over, since there were no elections and since there was a decision to extend the term of office of the existing councils until 2024. "Why has the Government now decided to remove a handful of Britons from the councils and for what reasons? Why can't we stay in place until May 2024?" she asks.
The answer, according to government sources, is that in the case of Cyprus, the Constitution does not provide for a different arrangement, clearly defining who can retain the right to vote and stand for election. They also noted that they cannot remain in office once Brexit has taken place, because they are now considered third-country nationals and therefore their stay in their posts is now irregular, despite the fact that when they were elected the facts were different.
