§ Mr. Piratinasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that Mr. P. Servas, the Mayor of Limassol, Cyprus, has been struck off the electoral list as he had not two years' consecutive residence, because he served a term of three months' imprisonment; and as the electoral law requiring two years' residential qualification referred to voluntary removal, whether he will look into this matter and rectify the mistake.
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§ Mr. Rees-WilliamsThe hon. Member is misinformed about the electoral law in Cyprus. The Cyprus law concerned has no reference to voluntary removal, and the question at issue was whether a period of imprisonment counted as "temporary absence" within the meaning of the law. The revising judge, following the principle laid down in previous judgments in similar cases, ruled that it did not and that a period of imprisonment interrupts legal residence. This is a judicial matter in which my right hon. Friend cannot properly intervene.