Cyprus: Ex-foreign minister wins presidential election, becomes youngest president of the country
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides
Nikos Christodoulides was declared the victor of the Sunday (February 12) presidential election in Cyprus,following a second and final round of voting. He pledged to form a government of national unity with the aim of resuming peace negotiations with the estranged Turkish Cypriots. Christodoulides, 49, received 51.9 per centof the vote, according to the official figures, while Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66, received 48.1 per cent.
The vote on Sunday put career diplomat Mavroyiannis, a former main negotiator in the peace negotiations with Turkish Cypriots, against former foreign minister Christodoulides. Mavroyiannis was also a former permanent representative of Cyprus to the UN.
Right-of-centre and centre-leaning parties supported Christodoulides' independent campaign.
As the government's spokesperson or until early 2022 as foreign minister, Christodoulides has regularly been at the forefront during the previous ten years, often presenting the image of a youthful, dynamic politician with many ideas.
Mavroyiannis congratulated Christodoulides and conceded defeat.
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"Tonight is the end of a long but nice journey ... I want to thank from the bottom of my soul all those who travelled with me," he said.
The issues that await the next president vary from the fallout from corruption scandals and a spike in migration that has left authorities dealing with thousands of asylum applications to the deadlock in reunification talks with Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically divided island and labour disputes amid runaway inflation.
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Cyprus hold a presidential election every five years.Since 2013, Nicos Anastasiades, a conservative leader of the governing DISY party, has been in office after being re-elected in 2018. He isn't allowed to run for a third term by law.
(With inputs from agencies)
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