On EKLEKTOR website the visitor will find information and data on the politics and elections in Cyprus. They include statistics and maps, studies and analyzes, informational, promotional and other relevant material. Information and data are mainly based on a project of the same name that began in 1987 and was the first digital bank on elections and politics in Cyprus. The online version provides the opportunity to interact with thematic maps and retrieve data, information and other documents.
Comments, views and suggestions are welcome at eklektorcy@gmail.com.
EKLEKTOR’s Goals
The EKLEKTOR project began in 1987 with the aim of collecting and classifying data, information and all kinds of evidence for elections in Cyprus. After working for many years on this project and constant updating, a unique bank of documents and archives has been set up. The systematic classification and organization of the material enables any interested person to have access via a user-friendly structure. The goal is achieved, since the expert researcher and everyone have access to the material and data, for information or study.
Content
The original material consisted of the detailed results of elections in the Republic of Cyprus, from 1981 onwards. Gradually all the results for presidential and parliamentary elections have been systematically arranged in electronic form for the period beginning in the first presidential election in 1959 to this day. Demographic data from population censuses enriched the collection, adding a new dimension to the analysis of political and electoral behavior.
The EKLEKTOR project will also include electronic databases and information with detailed results and other material from the elections to the European Parliament and to local government. We will also gradually include results and documents about the election of the Turkish Cypriot leadership in the part of Cyprus occupied by the Turkish army since 1974. In this case, demographic and other data will also be presented. They come from electoral records and population censuses, as of course from electoral lists and results.
Historical background
An innovative feature of the EKLEKTOR project is the use, since 1990, of MapInfo software for organizing and visualizing data and information. This offered a unique at the time possibility, to present results on digital thematic maps and assist a detailed analysis that in some cases went down to the level of street data.
Beyond population and election data and information, the project includes a rich collection of documents and material, video, sound and photos. It consists of electoral programs, posters, newspapers and newspaper clippings, photographs, tapes with several thousands of hours of audio and audiovisual material and other related documents.
An important goal set in the beginning of 1989 was to create the conditions for access to information via the telephone line. Technology and the development of the Internet now offer even more possibilities for realizing the idea we had envisioned.
The first online presence of EKLEKTOR began in 2001 on www.eklektor.org /www.eklektor.com with basic material. Its main element was the interactive presentation of election results on thematic maps for Cyprus. It also presented a complete database with all candidate MPs, searchable on the basis of specific variables (party, gender, ranking, etc.). It is completed with charts, data tables and analyzes for elections and demography.
Changes in technology have over time affected the functionality of our web pages and imposed this new design almost from scratch. In addition to a new interface and design, much richer information, data and material are now made available to the user.
Reference sources and aids
For the preparation of e-EKLEKTOR, we collected material from primary sources, such as
• official election results,
• electoral programs of parties and candidates,
• Press articles,
• official statistics,
• demographics and population censuses results;
• recordings of radio and TV programs
• photos and
• other material
Articles, studies, interviews, and other analysis documents were also collected.
This rich volume of material is offered to everyone for information and to experts for exploitation, for study purposes or for specific research.
We deliver here information, data and material of a particular value because they are scarce and often inaccessible. We know no other systematic effort in Cyprus or elsewhere to collect it and make it available. That’s why we hope to gradually enrich the material of the EKLEKTOR project with some more items from the vast amount of evidence missing from here!