H.E. Dr. Michalis Stavrinos:

It is a combination of both. The Turkish Cypriots who live in the occupied part of Cyprus are not allowed by the illegal regime there to participate in elections which concern the totality of the island. To create additional burdens, they sometimes claim there are administrative restrictions. For this reason, the government of the Republic of Cyprus adopted this recent legislation to remove any possible technical difficulty. People with the identity card of a Cypriot citizen are registered automatically in the voting list. To avoid the difficulty of crossing the ceasefire line there will be ballot boxes at all the crossing points and identification will be very much facilitated. These are practical measures to help those on the island and abroad to easily participate in the process.