Cypriot diplomats face off in cliffhanger presidential vote

By Michele Kambas

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Cyprus went to the polls in a runoff presidential election on Sunday, pitting two career diplomats against each other in what could be a cliffhanger vote that has split the political right.

Nikos Christodoulides, 49, is a former foreign minister while Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66, was chief negotiator in peace talks with Turkish Cypriots and a former permanent representative of Cyprus to the United Nations.

About 561,000 Greek Cypriots have the right to vote. Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT and close at 1600 GMT. Authorities are expected to announce the winner by 1800 GMT.

The two pulled ahead with Christodoulides holding a narrow lead in a first round of voting on Feb. 5 that left Averof Neophytou, head of the ruling right-wing DISY party, in third place.

Both remaining candidates are professed independents, with Christodoulides backed by a smattering of centre and right-of-centre parties and Mavroyiannis by the left-wing AKEL. His candidacy got a boost this week when DISY said its members should vote with their conscience.

The DISY leadership were angered after Christodoulides, a former party member, broke ranks to run as an independent.

Leading DISY party members have since come out in support of each candidate. The Phileleftheros daily called Sunday’s outcome a riddle.

“Anger, bruised egos, a vote against AKEL and similarities in ideology are all triggers which could sway today’s vote,” it wrote on its front page.

Cyprus’s incumbent president, Nicos Anastasiades of DISY, is prevented from seeking a third term by law and has said he backs the party line. But there have been widespread reports that he wanted the party to back Christodoulides.

The next president faces problems ranging from a deadlock in reunification talks with Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically divided island and labour disputes stemming from runaway inflation to fallout from corruption scandals and a spike in irregular migration.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas; Editing by Jason Neely and Clarence Fernandez)