Cyprus elects Christodoulides as president following tight race

NICOSIA: Cyprus voters on Sunday elected the former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides as the next president of the small EU member state, with his rival conceding defeat and congratulating him.

Christodoulides, 49, defeated fellow diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66, according to exit polls by five television stations in the south of the divided Mediterranean island. Mavroyiannis told reporters: “Tonight a journey has ended, a great journey that I shared with thousands of people. I regret we couldn’t achieve the change that Cyprus needed.”

The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation put Christodoulides at 50.5-53.5 percent in the vote for head of state and government, ahead of Mavroyiannis with 46.5-49.5 percent, to succeed two-term conservative President Nicos Anastasiades Other stations carried exit polls that also gave Christodoulides a clear lead in the runoff after last Sunday´s inconclusive first round.

Christodoulides, who defected from the conservative ruling DISY party to run as an independent, scored 32.0 percent a week ago, against 29.6 percent for Mavroyiannis, who also ran as an independent, backed by the communist AKEL party.

Widely tapped as the election favourite during the campaign, Christodoulides is seen likely to take a hard line on moribund UN-backed talks on ending the island’s decades-old division. The former top diplomat Christodoulides earlier voiced confidence about a win when he told reporters: “The Cypriot people know and understand what is at stake... I have complete confidence in their judgement.” Voter turnout was 72.4 percent with over 405,000 citizens casting a ballot, a fraction higher than in the first round.