Uncertain second round for the presidential election in Cyprus
The winner will be tasked with fighting inflation and corruption, and reviving peace talks on the divided island, a member of the European Union.
Nikos Christodoulides affronte Andreas Mavroyiannis.
AFP
Two diplomats clash Sunday in the second round of the presidential election in Cyprus. The ballot promises to be tight: Nikos Christodoulides, 49, head of diplomacy between 2018 and 2022, came first in the first round with 32.04% of the vote, slightly ahead of career diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66 ( 29.59%), former ambassador to France and Ireland.
Nikos Christodoulides, supported by the centrist parties, and Andreas Mavroyiannis, supported by the communist party Akel, are standing as independent candidates. The ruling conservative Disy party, the big loser in the first round, decided not to support either.
“Some voters vote for the least bad of the candidates, it is a characteristic of all elections but even more for this one”, remarks Andreas Theophanous, of the Cyprus Center for European and International Affairs.
open game
“I expect a close result and everyone can win,” says Hubert Faustmann, professor of politics and history at the University of Nicosia.
The winner will succeed right-wing president Nicos Anastasiades, 76, who is completing two five-year terms. His party, Disy, is absent after the defeat in the first round, on February 5, of its leader, Averof Neofytou, who came third with 26.11%, an unprecedented failure for a leader of a ruling party.
Disy, who excluded Nikos Christodoulides for standing as a candidate against the opinion of the party, refused to give voting instructions and declared himself the opposition party, leaving the game open. “The election will be played on the choice of the voters of Disy”, estimates Hubert Faustmann.
Fiona Mullen, an analyst at consultancy Sapienta Economics in Nicosia, also sees a “fairly close” race. “Disy management doesn’t support anyone officially, but unofficially they support Mavroyiannis,” she says. According to this analyst, the outcome of the vote will also depend on the ability of Andreas Mavroyiannis to convince that the communists of Akel will not take the reins of the economy if he wins, at a time when the rise in energy and food prices remain at the top of Cypriots’ concerns.
Inflation reached 10.9% in 2022, before slowing in January to 7.1%. The Communists have been heavily criticized for their handling of the 2012-2013 financial crisis, which nearly sent euro zone member Cyprus into bankruptcy and led it to seek a bailout from international donors. .
To reassure, Andreas Mavroyiannis announced in advance the name of the person who would be his Minister of the Economy. He chose a well-known jurist, Charalambos Prountzos, an expert in business and energy law.
Fight against corruption
The future president will also be called upon to relaunch peace talks, which have been stalled since 2017. The island of Cyprus, which joined the European Union in 2004, has been divided since Turkey’s invasion in 1974 of its northern third , in response to a coup by Cypriot-Greek nationalists who wanted to reunite the country with Greece.
The Republic of Cyprus only exercises authority over the southern part of the island, separated by the Green Line, a UN-controlled demilitarized zone, from the self-proclaimed and recognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) only via Ankara, where the Turkish-Cypriots live.
Andreas Mavroyiannis, former head of Cypriot-Greek negotiators in the reunification talks (2013-2022), has promised if elected to reopen the talks from day one. Nikos Christodoulides displays a tougher position.
The fight against corruption also dominated the electoral debate, especially after the “golden passport” scandal. This program of granting passports against investments on the island had to be canceled due to allegations of corruption.
Another sensitive subject on this island close to the coasts of the Middle East and Turkey: the influx of migrants, for which the two candidates have promised to act. Authorities claim that 6% of the 915,000 people living in the south of the island are asylum seekers.
Around 561,000 Greek-Cypriot voters are called to vote. The 1113 offices will open at 7 a.m. (6 a.m. in Switzerland) and close at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. in Switzerland).
AFP
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