The six MEPs from Cyprus. From left to right: Kyriakos Triantafillides (left-reelected), Antigoni Papadopoulou (center-new MEP), Ioannis Kasoulides (right-reelected), Eleni Theocharous (right - new MEP), Takis Hadjigeorgiou (left - new MEP) and Kyriakos Mavronikolas (Socialist - new MEP)
European Parliament elections took place Saturday in Cyprus with 58,8% of voters casting their vote.
The percentage of abstention reached 41,12%.
Although the percentage of abstention may not seem high to many of you, still it is the highest recorded ever for elections in Cyprus.
President of Cyprus Demetris Christofias casts his vote
Abstention was the winner at EP elections in Cyprus. All raise great concerns
A Turkish Cypriot casts her vote
Abstention has caused great concern and political parties and government officials are now trying to understand what went wrong. Was it their fault, was it the pre election campaign, - which in my view focused on anything else but on the EP - was it the long weekend (Monday being a holiday and most Cypriots went to the beach) or was it an EU trend spreading in Cyprus as well.
I wonder: Are Cypriots becoming Europeans, ie, have they started not to care about EP elections? And if so, then “Whose fault is this?”
The beach was more attractive, many watched the beach volley of the Games of Small States of Europe, hosted in Cyprus
Island-wide overall turnout for the European elections was 58.88%, while abstentions reached 41.12%
Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides has expressed his disappointment regarding the poor turnout in the elections for the six members of the European Parliament to represent Cyprus.
”These results are extremely disappointing.”, he said.
Replying to questions, Savvides said that it appears the largest percentage of abstention was among young persons up to 25 years of age and the greatest percentage of participation among persons over 50 years old.
According to the exit polls, the right wing opposition Democratic Rally Party secures the first position with around 36% followed by the ruling left wing AKEL party with 35%.
They both elect two MEPs each.
A father comes to vote with his child
The surprise came from the Democratic Party, which had great losses, reaching only 12% in comparison to almost 18% at the previous elections. Nevertheless, the party elects one MEP, just like at the EP elections of 2004.
Exit polls show that the Socialists have managed this time to elect their first MEP and raise their percentages by 2% (8% at previous elections, 10% in 2009)
2 out of the 6 Cypriot MEPs are women
(10 votes, average: 4.30 out of 5)
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Athena, you’re right, I would consider 58.8% to be very satisfying, but I understand that this interpretation depends on the local context.
In Romania I expect to have a turnout 3 times lower.
George, yes, abstention may not sound very high, but believe me, politicians here are shocked! Cypriots have never in the past abstained to such an extent from EP elections, or any elections.
You say that in Romania it will be 3 times lower. And I wonder. Is this democracy? Letting the few decide for the many? Is the decision of the few representative? Should it be acceptable?
And the most important. Why do national parties participate in EP elections? This is in my view wrong.
There should be European parties participating in the EP elections, NOT national ones.
Yes, this is democracy. As I wrote in my post today about the reasons of those who will not vote, abstention is also a manifestation of democracy. Not voting is also a right, unless voting is mandatory. So yes, I very much believe a low turnout is acceptable. I believe the first and most important manifestation of democracy is rule of law, not going to vote. No law has been broken.
AS for national parties in EP elections, I’m glad you speak my langauge
Here is the link to my post in which I made an extended argument and proposals about how European parties should be the main actors of these elections.
http://elections.thinkaboutit.eu/2009/04/making-the-european-elections-truly-european-a-few-proposals/
And something else related to turnout. I prefer 20% if those 20% are the ones who cast a relevant, informed vote, than 70% in which 50% have no idea what these elections are about.
Reply to George Iulian JIGLAU latest post:
Democracy is not based on informed or not informed citizens. It is based on collective participation, regardless the educational background or the economic or marital status.
The term “Democracy” is used to describe the power of the public (demos). No “demos” means no democracy. Low turnout indicates problematic democracy – wherever this political phenomenon is present, there is something wrong and local politicians, trend setters, media personas, academics etc should boost participation whatsoever. The way to achieve that? Reaching out to EU citizens (dissemination of info).
New democracies in Eastern Europe obviously face a severe problem: how representative is democracy there? Democratic institutions are not yet mature: corruption and post-traumatic post-communist indifference prevails. Western European Democracies suffer from time fatigue, different kind of corruption and different kind of lack of involvement.
There is NOT a single serious reason not to vote. In your post you just playing the devil advocate for the sake of being one. By not voting we let other people decide on our behalf, like the xenophobic UKIP party in UK (which came second) or the ultra right wind party in the Netherlands (which also came second). I am sure you have heard about the results in these two countries already. Is this what we want in EU? The emergence of fascists and xenophobic lunatics? Ok then, DON’T VOTE, LET THE DARK FORCES OF EUROPE PREVAIL. This kind of abstention will only lead us to the political and cultural death of United Europe.
Let them shuffle the cards. However, shuffling is often followed by a “cut”, to ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. Democracy reassures that the shuffler has done his job according the rules.
Ps1: Well done Cyprus: beach and sun has beaten the future of your children! Really mature decision to partially abstain.
Ps2: Non velat umbra diem = Darkness will not cover the sun.
Ps3: To paraphrase Aristotle: democracy (and electing representatives) is the best polity we could have among a bunch of other problematic ways of governing (aristocracy, dictatorships, totalitarian regimes etc). Even if democracy is in a way problematic, still it is the only solution the mankind has.
dear athena,
politcians are not shocked! they are just pretending they are shocked because it suits them. The abstantion rate is normal, finally the voters made a political statement. The Cypriot voters are finally turning their back to the politicians who turned their back to the voters long time ago. And I absolutely agree with you. What on earth are national parties doing in the European elections?
Maybe voters made a political statement by NOT voting, but this is not a responsible attitude.
It seems to me that a kind of oligarchy will be ruling Europe. (oligarchy = comes from the greek word oligarchia. Oligos (few) and arhi (rule)
Is this democracy? Is this representative?
This year’s huge abstention percentage on the European elections is a clear message that some people (politics especially) should at last get serious and do what they’re supposed to do. But still some of them don’t get it. I wrote an article about European elections abstention where you can see the reaction of a former Greek minister, that could be characterized as nothing but offensive…
I disagree that not voting is an irresponsible attitude, when it comes from 1 out of two European voters.
And oligarchy is when the few are the only ones who have the right to vote, not when the few choose to vote.