(Nicosia) Cypriots voted on Sunday for the second round of a presidential election with an uncertain outcome between two diplomats, whose winner will have the mission to fight against inflation and corruption, and to relaunch peace talks on the divided Mediterranean island.
As of 5 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), voter turnout was 67.7 percent, according to official figures. Polls closed at 6 p.m. (11 a.m. EST), and official results are expected by 9 p.m. (2 p.m. EST).
The ballot was tight: Nikos Christodoulides, 49, head of diplomacy between 2018 and 2022, came first on February 5 with 32.04% of the vote, slightly ahead of another seasoned diplomat, Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66 (29 .59%), former ambassador to France and Ireland.
The first, supported by the centrist parties, like the second, supported by the communist party Akel, the first opposition force in the country, are presenting themselves as independent candidates.
PHOTO PHILIPPOS CHRISTOU, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Candidate Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66 (29.59%), former ambassador to France and Ireland.
“The Cypriot people know what is at stake […] I have full confidence in his judgement,” Mr. Christodoulides told reporters.
“It is time to turn the page for a new, united, European Cyprus, and Cyprus will be victorious with us,” said Mr. Mavroyiannis.
” Live together ”
At Agios Antonios primary school in Nicosia, Dora Petsa, 75, a pensioner, expects the future president “to settle the Cyprus question […] so that we can live together with the Cypriot-Turks”.
Louis Loizides, 51, believes on the contrary that the new president will have to focus on domestic policy. “In my opinion, immigration and the economy are the two priorities,” he says.
PHOTO IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Candidate Nikos Christodoulides, 49, head of diplomacy between 2018 and 2022.
The winner will succeed right-wing president Nicos Anastasiades, 76, who is completing two five-year terms.
After the defeat of his candidate in the first round, his Disy party, which excluded Mr. Christodoulides for having applied against the opinion of the party, refused to give voting instructions, leaving the game open.
Hubert Faustmann, professor of politics and history at the University of Nicosia, predicts “a tight result”.
According to Fiona Mullen, an analyst at consultancy Sapienta Economics in Nicosia, the outcome of the vote will depend in part on whether Mr Mavroyiannis can convince the Communists that the Communists will not take over the economy if he wins. at a time when rising 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 widely criticized for their handling of the 2012-2013 financial crisis, which almost precipitated Cyprus, a member of the euro zone, into bankruptcy.
To reassure, Mr. 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.
Vasso Pelekanou, a 47-year-old woman, believes that the new president should help the middle classes, abandoned according to her by the outgoing government. “The rich have become even richer,” she laments.
Fight against corruption
The future head of state 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 the invasion by Turkey in 1974 of its northern third, in response to a coup d’etat by Greek Cypriot nationalists who wanted to attach the country to 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 by Ankara, where the Turkish Cypriots live.
Mr Mavroyiannis, former head of the Greek Cypriot negotiators in the reunification talks (2013-2022), has promised if elected to reopen talks from day one. Mr. Christodoulides takes a tougher stance.
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.