Disy’s student wing accused of attempting to rig UCy election

Disy’s student wing, the Protoporia, was on Friday accused by four other political parties of attempting to rig the University of Cyprus’ student union elections, which were due to have taken place on Thursday but were eventually halted amid a furore surrounding the accusations.

The four parties which levelled the accusations were Akel’s student wing, the Proodeftiki, Diko’s student wing, Anagennisi, Edek’s student wing, Agonas, and the Voice of the Students, a non-aligned student party founded by bicommunal technical committee on youth member Christos Parmakkis.

They released a joint statement saying that they “unequivocally condemn the rigging that the Protoporia committed … at the University of Cyprus”.

In specifics, they accused an “official” from the Protoporia of “attempting to place more than five ballot papers into the box”.

“When this was noticed, the Protoporia representative at the [student union’s] electoral commission intervened in the process, tore up the ballot papers, and smuggled them away from the scene, hiding them. Thus far, the fate of the ballot papers remains unknown,” they said.

They added that they had then put “intense pressure” on the Protoporia to abandon the election process as a result, and that after this, “we managed to reach a joint decision to suspend the elections and store the ballot papers and electoral rolls at a mutually agreed location”.

Responsibility for the election’s abandonment, however, rests “exclusively and completely” with the Protoporia, according to the other four parties.

“For us, the matter has nothing to do with one’s ideology or party. It is a question of democracy and legitimacy. It is about defending the credibility and transparency of student elections,” they said.

To this end, they stressed that “students have the non-negotiable right to choose their representatives through clean and impartial procedures”, before concluding their statement by saying that their joint account of the ballot box stuffing is “a record of the indisputable facts as they emerged”.

While the Protoporia did not deny the sequence of events as described by the four other parties, it took umbrage with the means employed by the other parties, particularly the Proodeftiki, to bring about the halting of the electoral proceedings.

“Following an incident in which a member of the electoral commission filed an objection regarding the process … the Proodeftiki, with provocations, raised voices, and behaviour which has no place at the University of Cyprus, illegally interrupted both the electoral process and the counting of ballots,” it said.

It added that the electoral commission was “not given the requisite time to investigate the incident, as the process was violently interrupted by the entry of members of the Proodeftiki into the area”.

“For over an hour, the polls remained arbitrarily closed, for which responsibility rests with the Proodeftiki, while the other parties refused to agree to find a solution,” it said.

It went on to speak of “unprecedented and unacceptable incidents”, accusing members of other parties of “verbal attacks and insults” and “threats and intimidation”, as well as both physical violence and vandalism, adding that “what unfolded leaves no room for embellishment”.

“We still expect the Proodeftiki to condemn these incidents,” it added.

Returning to the matter of the election itself, it said called for “the immediate convening of the electoral commission, which must appoint an independent legal advisor, so that what is to happen with both the electoral process and the operation of the student union itself can be responsibly evaluated”.

“Only through institutional, transparent, and legally documented procedures can credibility and prestige of student elections be restored,” it said.

It then lamented that “in recent years … heavy shadows have been cast upon student union procedures, undermining the trust of students and the prestige of the elections”.

As such, it said, this “cannot continue”.

It said it now intends to propose to the university’s rector Tasos Christofides that the supervision of the elections be placed under the responsibility of the university itself, “with procedures corresponding to state elections, where responsibility lies with public officials”.

“Until then, we call on everyone to demonstrate responsibility. Hasty conclusions and the court of public opinion have no place. The truth will emerge through institutional procedures,” it said.