Cyprus’ new president will be chosen in a run-off election

In the presidential elections in the EU island republic of Cyprus, there will be a runoff next Sunday (February 12). After almost all the votes were counted, the winner of the first round was former Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulidis. The 49-year-old, conservative ex-chief diplomat comes to almost 32 percent.

His opponent will be the diplomat Andreas Mavrogiannis (66), who is supported by the left-wing party AKEL. This won around 29 percent of the votes. Mavrogiannis ultimately won an exciting neck-and-neck race for second place with the representative of the conservative Democratic Union Movement (DISY) party, Averof Neofytou.

The official result is expected on Sunday evening. Around 561,000 entitled persons were called to vote. The successor to 76-year-old Nicos Anastasiades will be elected by the conservative governing party.

Great challenges for the new head of state

In Cyprus, the President is both the head of state and the head of government. Whoever wins the vote on the divided Mediterranean island faces enormous challenges. He has to get an economic crisis, corruption scandals and migration problems under control and also bring momentum back into a peace process that has slipped away.

Elections are only held in the southern part of the island, the Turkish-Cypriot north does not take part in the polls. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 after a Greek coup and Turkish military intervention. Numerous attempts at mediation by the United Nations to overcome the division have so far failed. Cyprus has been a member of the EU since 2004. EU law and regulations apply only to the Greek Cypriot south of the island.

sti/qu/nob/kle (afp, ap, dpa)