Cyprus parliamentary elections 2021: ODIHR election expert team final report

The 2021 parliamentary elections in Cyprus were governed by the legal framework that generally provided for the conduct of democratic elections; however, the legislation remains overly complex and requires comprehensive review. While the party finance legislation was amended to enhance transparency, the rules remained insufficiently detailed and contained legal gaps. Moreover, the transparency of campaign finance and possibility of public scrutiny were undermined by the lack of timely information on campaign expenditures. These are some of the main conclusions from the final report on the 30 May elections published on 15 December 2021 by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The report offers 10 recommendations to further improve the conduct of elections, increase transparency and raise public confidence in the electoral process.

Key recommendations include:

• Conducting a comprehensive review of the electoral legal framework well in advance of the next elections to harmonize, clarify and update respective laws;
• Amending the legislation to explicitly provide for the presence of citizen and international observers;
• Continuing efforts to create an enabling and inclusive environment and further facilitate access of persons with all types of disabilities to the election process;
• Ensuring the effectiveness of campaign finance oversight by introducing a limit on campaign expenses for political parties and providing guidelines on the distinction between campaign and general party expenses;
• Tying the budget of the public broadcaster to a clear criterion to ensure its independence and encourage the development of investigative journalism.

ODIHR deployed an Election Expert Team for this election on 17 May 2021.

All 57 countries across the OSCE region have formally committed to follow up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.