Voting begins for Cyprus’ presidency, with 3 front-runners

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cypriots on Sunday started voting for his or her eighth president within the ethnically divided island’s 63-year historical past as an unbiased republic, with three front-runners every portraying themselves because the most secure guess to information the nation via turbulent financial instances and to hunt peace with breakaway Turkish Cypriots.

Opinion polls point out that not one of the three — all of whom have been shut associates of outgoing President Nicos Anastasiades — will muster greater than half of the votes, which is the bar for an outright win within the first spherical. As an alternative, the highest two will probably transfer ahead to a runoff in per week’s time. Some 561,000 residents are eligible to vote.

Averof Neophytou, 61, who took over the management of the nation’s largest Democratic Rally social gathering from Anastasiades has banked on his message as a veteran insider and the steadiest hand to make sure stability in instances fraught with financial uncertainty.

Profession diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66, who served beneath Anastasiades as his chief negotiator in peace talks with Turkish Cypriots, has appealed to voters disgruntled with a decade of Anastasiades’ rule, particularly members of the communist-rooted AKEL social gathering that’s supporting his candidacy.

Nikos Christodoulides, 49, a former authorities spokesman and international minister who has constantly led all opinion polls all through the monthslong marketing campaign, is working because the candidate who can bridge social gathering affiliations and ideological fault strains to unite a fractured voters.

Opinion polls have constantly proven Christodoulides will head into the runoff in opposition to both Mavroyiannis or Neophytou.

Cypriots will anticipate the brand new president to rapidly transfer to buttress an financial system buffeted by Russia’s battle in Ukraine and its knock-on impact on the price of residing.

Migration has additionally been a hot-button concern amid a continued large inflow of migrants that has made Cyprus one of many prime EU international locations when it comes to asylum purposes per capita.

Capitalizing on Cyprus’ offshore pure gasoline deposits amid an vitality crunch and getting again to the negotiating desk with breakaway Turkish Cypriots to resolve the island’s ethnic cleave are additionally precedence points.