The Ministry of Interior hasannounced officially that municipal elections will take place on Sunday December 18.

“We are working intensively to prepare the local elections on December 18, after the publication of the relevant decrees in the Official Gazette of the Cyprus Republic,” the head of the Election Service at the Ministry Demetris Demetriou told CNA today.

Those elected will serve a five-year term, he explained.

According to Demetriou, the decrees have been sent to the Returning Officers, setting out the election date, December 18, as well as the dates for submitting candidatures which is November 17 for the municipalities and 21 November for the communities.

According to data from the Election Service, elections will be held for a total of 39 municipalities, of which nine are in the nothern Turkish occupied part of Cyprus, as well as for 348 villages in the southern government controlled areas of the country and 142 communities in the Turkish occupied part of the island.

Municipal elections are held in Cyprus every five years.