By 9pm on the evening of Sunday, 24 May, the parties that will enter the new Parliament and with how many MPs will be known, while by 2am on Monday, 25 May, the names of the 56 MPs will be announced, the Chief Returning Officer and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Elikkos Elias, has reiterated.
Elias said that the counting of votes will take place at polling stations and will begin as soon as the polls close, at 6pm on Sunday afternoon, if there are bi longer more people waiting in line to vote at that time.
He added that up to one representative from each party will be present at the vote count.
Asked when the final results should be expected, Elias said that the instructions that have been given are to first count the party crosses to determine the number of votes each party received.
"At around 8.30pm and 9pm in the evening we will know which parties will enter Parliament and with how many MPs each," he added.
He then stated that the counting of the preference crosses of the MPs themselves would begin.
Asked when the counting of the MPs' votes is expected to be completed, the Chief Returning Officer said that around 2am, it was anticipated that the names of the 56 MPs would be known, adding, however, that the formalisation/finalisation of the elected MPs will require an additional period of time, which may be until 3am to 4am.
"We might have to go until 3 to 4 in the morning to formalise it," he noted.
On this matter, however, Elias said that the election of some parliamentary candidates, who will garner a large number of votes, compared to other candidates, will become clear earlier, around 11.30pm to midnight on Sunday evening.
(Source: CNA)
