Cyprus – President to be decided by runoff – Politics

In the presidential election in the small EU island republic Cyprus there will be a run-off election on February 12. After almost all the votes were counted, the winner of the first round on Sunday was former Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulidis, according to the Interior Ministry. The conservative comes to initially almost 32 percent of the vote. His opponent will be the diplomat Andreas Mavrogiannis, who is supported by the left-wing party AKEL. He comes to around 29.7 percent. The election is significant because in Cyprus the President, directly elected by the people, appoints and runs the government. Polls give Christodoulidis more chances in the runoff because Mavrogiannis now has to campaign for conservative votes.