NICOSIA-Cyprus went to the polls Sunday for a tightly fought presidential runoff between two career diplomats seeking the top post in the south of the divided Mediterranean island.
Polling stations close at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) in the race to succeed two-term conservative President Nicos Anastasiades as head of state and government of the small EU member country.
Former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides, 49, faces 66-year-old fellow diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis after last Sunday’s inconclusive first round.
Christodoulides, who defected from the conservative ruling DISY party to run as an independent, scored 32.04 percent a week ago, against 29.59 percent for Mavroyiannis, who is backed by the communist AKEL party.
Top concerns for many voters are the cost of living crisis, irregular immigration and the island’s almost half-century of division between the Greek-speaking south and a Turkish-occupied statelet in the north recognised only by Ankara.
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But many disaffected voters will simply opt for “the least worse candidate -- a characteristic in most elections, but more so in this one,” said Andreas Theophanous of think tank the Cyprus Center for European and International Affairs.
The winner needs 50 percent plus one vote to succeed Anastasiades as the republic’s eighth president.
The outgoing president urged Cypriots to come out “en masse to participate in this electoral process”, adding that “this is our duty. The people decide, the majority decides and the minority respects.”
Turnout at noon had reached 35.4 percent of registered voters, slightly up on the participation rate at that time in the first round, election officials said.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish forces occupied its northern third in response to a Greek-sponsored coup, but voters appeared split over whether the division was a priority in the election.
Retiree Dora Petsa, 75, said she expects the new president “to settle the Cypriot question”.
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But Louis Loizides, 51, said the country has “too many internal problems”, ranging from the economy to immigration, having taken in large numbers of asylum seekers, including many who cross the UN-patrolled Green Line.