New tension has emerged within EDEK as its leadership election gets under way, with reports that more than 700 members have been excluded from the electoral rolls and, as a result, from the right to vote.
According to philenews information, the stated justification for excluding these individuals is that they did not vote for EDEK in previous elections. However, it is claimed that the Extraordinary Congress decision in question actually applied to members who had stood as candidates for other political parties, not to people believed simply not to have voted for EDEK.
Tension reportedly broke out at one of the party’s polling centres after a number of people were refused the right to vote. Those affected say they were removed from the membership register without first being consulted.
According to the same information, one particularly striking case involves a member reportedly excluded from the electoral rolls despite having stood as an EDEK candidate in the most recent local elections.
A separate question has also been raised over which body compiled the electoral rolls. The same sources say the lists were prepared by a Credentials Committee appointed by the Central Committee, rather than by the Credentials Committee that had been appointed by the Extraordinary Congress.
The issue of the membership register was formally raised before EDEK’s Extraordinary Pancyprian Congress last July. Today’s leadership vote is being held at eight polling centres across Cyprus, Athens and London.
