LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM AND LOCAL ELECTIONS - STILL ALL UP IN THE AIR

 Filenews 31 July 2021 - by Frixos Dalitis

NB - Despite extensive lobbying, still no decision regarding whether the UK expats will get their vote back for the local elections.   Currently, UK expats have lost their vote due to Brexit.

Reform and local government elections are a package. The parties are timidly starting their preparations ahead of the local government elections, with a call for expressions of interest for the nomination, and some stakeholders have already rushed to announce their candidacy to pre-understand the decisions.

At the same time, they are putting pressure on the Government to notify them as soon as possible of the final proposals for reform, leaving open the possibility of postponing the elections. However, the margin for the Government does not go beyond the first few weeks of September.

But the "key" to the local government elections lies in the Interior Ministry, which is currently under pressure to bring before Parliament a proposal on how it intends to proceed with the issue of elections. Interior Minister Nikos Nouris told "F" that he intends to come back soon on the issue of Local Self-Government by bringing back the three reform bills. On the basis of the provisions of the bills, elections should be postponed by extending the mandate of existing municipal and community councils.

In any case, the issue for the Government is like the reform bills for Local Government, approved by the House and the reform implemented by May 2024. Time at which it is determined to hold the elections.

The Government intends, through the No. Interior to proceed to a new round of contacts and discussions with the parties on the issue, in order to plan intentions and find the magic recipe for the reform to become a reality, as it is one of the reforms that should be adopted under the Recovery and Resilience Plan submitted by the Republic to the EU. As we are informed, the Interior Minister has taken action towards Brussels on the possibility of extending or partially adopting the reform, but has met with their refusal and insistence on implementing the entire package of all three reform bills.

From the point of view of the opposition parties (AKEL, DIKO, EDEC), the position is that since there is no other decision, they proceed normally with the elections, while putting pressure on the Government to take decisions. The ACPL had also proposed holding elections with a limited term of office of 2.5 years. The Government is not negative, but it now seems that the idea of postponing the elections after and the results of the Parliamentary Elections is gaining ground in the opposition parties. However, they leave the initiative of the movements to the Government The parties presented positively in the postponement scenario expect the Government to table a formula which says that in order to better implement the reform, it proposes postponing the elections of the Local Government, with readiness on their part, to pass such a proposal by the Parliament.

I'm sure by September the scene should be clear by September. Then there will be the first session of the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior for the new parliamentary term. In the first session after the summer holidays, Interior Minister Nikos Nouris will also be present, as scheduled for a first debate and exchange of views on the outstanding issues in the Parliament concerning the ministry.

If either the scenario for limited term elections or postponing and extending the existing term of office finally prevails, this means that in May 2024 we will have elections again along with the European elections, as was the original thought. Of course, in this case there are reservations on the part of the Electoral Office which considers that it will practically be quite time-consuming to announce the results due to the nature of the elections with the many crosses of preference for municipal and community councils as well as for School Boards. So far, however, DISY and ACPL have made announcements for expressions of interest in candidacy.

As far as the Democratic Alarm is concerned, according to last week's announcement, the last day for interested Party members to submit their candidacy for the ballot papers of Municipal Councillors and School Supplies was yesterday. However, according to the Communication, at the end of the procedure, if the persons concerned are less than the number of seats available, the Political Bureau may extend the time limit for expressions of interest or supplement the posts for which no interest has been expressed with candidates of its own choice.

Members registered in the Central Register of Members until 30 April 2021 and provided that their financial obligations to the Party are settled.

The dates for nominations to the Community Councils as well as further details on the selection of candidate mayors will be announced in early September.

In the ACPL also, each Provincial Committee of the party announced in accordance with the Party's Rules of Operation in view of the upcoming elections for Local Government, that it accepts proposals for candidate mayors/community leaders, municipal/community councillors and school officials for the municipalities and communities of the province.