Among the 33 Cypriot Municipalities, 9 are under Turkish occupation since 1974 (AKANTHOU, FAMAGUSTA, KARAVAS, KYRENIA, KYTHREA, LAPITHOS, LEFKONIKON, LYSI and MORPHOU) as a result of the occupation of 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus by Turkey following the 1974 military intervention.

Since that date, these nine municipalities are “displaced”: They continue to maintain their legal status, although their mayors and councils have temporarily been displaced to the government-controlled area, as have the vast majority of their constituents.

Two of the displaced municipalities have more than 50 000 inhabitants. When local elections are held in Cyprus, the inhabitants of the displaced municipalities vote in their Municipality, as well as in their new place of residency (one of the other 24 municipalities).