Cyprus and the UK share a very strong bilateral cooperation and partnership in a plethora of areas, including Tourism, Trade, and Commerce, people to people, business and the academia, as a result of their strong Commonwealth ties. Based on 2020 figures, trade between the two countries amounts to about
€3.5 billion per annum, roughly equal in each direction, with foreign direct investment adding another €10 billion. 

There is regular mention in the press and on the TV of the very special relationship between the UK and Cyprus.   The UK expats contribute a great deal in their local communities.   In an era when democracy is under threat around the world by autocratic governments, any democratic European country should allow voting by resident and property owning third country nationals.  If residents pay their taxes, then they should be entitled to a say in how their money is spent.  The only way that this can be done is by allowing a vote in local elections.   Cypriots who live in the UK can vote and stand in local AND Government elections.  

The explanation the expat community has been given is that there is no provision in the Cyprus Constitution permitting resident non-nationals to have a vote.  But according to a recent newspaper article by Alper Ali Riza (a queen’s counsel in the UK and a retired part time judge) – Cyprus Mail 20 February 2022 :- “ it is true that under Cyprus’ original constitution only citizens have the right to vote in elections in Cyprus. But that is not conclusive against the right of non-citizens to vote because Cyprus’ constitution was amended when the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) joined the EU in 2004 to give pride of place to EU law, required by the terms of accession. For all practical purposes the amendment means that no provision of the constitution can prevent EU law from having legal effect in Cyprus.

EU law concerning third country nationals who are long-term residents in member states is contained in article 11 of Council Directive 2003/109/EC. It provides for equal treatment in specific areas leaving member states a discretion to grant such residents equality with EU citizens in areas of a state’s own choosing.

According to its preamble the purpose of the directive was to make provision whereby the rights of third country nationals resident long-term are approximated as near as possible to those enjoyed by citizens of the EU. As all citizens of the EU have the right to vote in municipal elections it would be well within the discretion of the RoC government under article 11 to grant such third country nationals resident in Cyprus the right to vote in municipal elections and reinstate the voting rights of the British community.

Under Cyprus’ amended constitution, article 11 has legal effect notwithstanding the constitution limits the right to vote to citizens, which means the RoC government would not be acting unconstitutionally if it grants third country nationals the same voting rights as EU citizens.

Depriving the British community of Cyprus of the right to vote in local elections also engages the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The Strasbourg court’s case-law developed the individual right to vote from the obligation of states to hold free elections because under the ECHR, democracy is central to human rights protection. And although the right to vote is not an absolute right, any limitation on it must not exclude persons or groups of persons from participating in the political life of their community arbitrarily.

When a human right protected by the ECHR is said to be engaged it means that any limitation of the right has to be justified by government. Thus the RoC has to show that disenfranchising the whole British community settled in Cyprus of some 60,000 people was done in pursuit of a legitimate aim, that it is necessary and proportionate and that any difference in treatment has an objective and reasonable justification”.

Regarding UK expat local council members, they were officially democratically elected.   In other democratic European countries they can only be dismissed if there is serious misconduct or at the next election.   The Cyprus Government cancelled the elections planned for December 2021 due to the local Government reorganisation and an edict was issued extending the period of service for council members until May 2024.  At no point did this item state that UK expat council members were excluded from the edict.  They were then verbally dismissed from their posts in January 2022.  No written or legal justification has been given for this step.  These members of the relevant councils were democratically elected and there is no election until May 2024.  At the very least they should be left in position until those elections.      

In addition, due to the local government reorganisation, a referendum is a possibility.  By removing UK expats from the voting lists, affected UK expats will have no say in any referendum, despite being communal services tax payers in areas affected. 

We respectfully request that the Cyprus Government

1         Reinstate the voting rights in local elections previously enjoyed by UK expats in the Republic of Cyprus.

2         Ensure UK expats and third country national residents who are permanently resident and property owners in Cyprus have a say in any local government reorganisation referendum.

3         Reinstate the UK expat local councillors verbally dismissed from their local community councils and leave them in post until the next municipal elections in May 2024.