NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Former Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides was elected as Cyprus’ new president in Sunday’s election, reviving stalled reunification talks with breakaway Turkish Cypriots and forming a coalition government with women. promised. cabinet posts.
According to official election results, with 100% of ballots counted, Christodoulides had 51.9% of the vote and his runoff opponent, veteran diplomat Andreas Mavroyanis, had 48.1%. Mavroyiannis conceded defeat even before the counting of votes was completed.
Christodoulides, 49, campaigned as a unifying force for ethnically divided Cyprus, avoiding ideological and party divisions. His message resonated with a wide swath of voters.
“I look you all in the eyes and I sincerely promise you this: I will do everything I can to appear worthy of your trust,” Christodoulides told supporters at his victory rally.
He made special reference to the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Turkish Cypriots, including members of the volleyball team, were among more than 33,000 people declared dead in the disaster as of Sunday.
“We share in their grief and I want to assure them that we stand with them,” the president-elect said.
An election official lifts a ballot box before distributing ballot boxes to polling stations in Nicosia, Cyprus, February 10, 2023 (AP Photo/Petros Karadzias).
Mavroyiannis, who previously served as Cyprus’ ambassador to the United Nations, has positioned himself as an agent of change, ushering in a new political era after a decade of rule by outgoing President Nikos Anastasiades.
He ran as an independent, but the support he received from the country’s second-largest political party, the communist-origin AKEL party, may have pushed swing voters to support Christodoulides.
Speaking to a somber crowd of supporters, 66-year-old Mavroyiannis, who was also Anastasiades’ chief negotiator with the Turkish Cypriots who defected from the country, said he would not play an “active and daily role” in politics, but would continue to offer his advice to the new are ready for. Government, if asked.
“I want to congratulate Nikos Christodoulides on his election victory and wish him more power,” Mavroyiannis said. “I am sad that we could not live up to the hopes and expectations of a major progressive change that our country needs.”
Christodoulides won with the support of members of the Democratic Rally (DISY) party, whose leader, Averof Neophytou, failed to make it into the runoff. The DISY leadership decided not to formally back any candidates and left it to members of the country’s largest party to vote as they saw fit.
Many DISY party insiders blamed longtime party member Christodoulides for running against Neophytos and splitting the party vote.
However, many did not want AKEL, Mavroyiannis’ main supporter, to regain a foothold in the government and feared that having the diplomat become the next president of Cyprus would threaten the country’s fragile economy and pro-Western trajectory.
Cypriot presidential candidate Andreas Mavroyanis, who is supported by the left-wing AKEL party, greets his supporters during a campaign rally in Nicosia, Cyprus January 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Critics blame AKEL for bringing Cyprus to the brink of bankruptcy a decade ago and maintaining a pro-Moscow slant.
Amid discord within DISY, a former party leader, Anastasiades, took the unusual step of issuing a statement suggesting that DISY members should work to thwart the AKEL-backed government.
He urged the party’s voters to defend the island’s western orientation and its deepening alliance with the US.
Christodoulides said he has already received congratulatory messages from world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and US Sen. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Christodoulides said, “Our country’s European, Western orientation is our constant guide for tomorrow.”
Trying to mend fences with divisions within Christodoulides and DISY, Neofitou said the president-elect could count on the party’s support “for the good of the country”.
Christoulides inherits the challenge of trying to restart moribund peace talks with the country’s Turkish Cypriots, who declared independence nearly a decade after the 1974 Turkish invasion that followed the coup with Greece .
Despite progress on the shape of the overall peace settlement, island reunification has eluded politicians during more than half a century of negotiations.
A potential solution was further complicated after talks failed in 2017 at a Swiss resort that many believed had come closest to producing a breakthrough.
Turkey, the only country to recognize the independence of the minority Turkish Cypriots, has since turned its back on the UN-backed arrangement for a federated Cyprus. Instead it advocates a two-state accord, which has been rejected by the United Nations, the European Union, the US and other countries.
As the government spokesman at the time and a close confidante of Anastasiades, Christodoulides was a key insider during the failed peace campaign in Switzerland. He has highlighted Turkey’s insistence on maintaining a permanent military presence and military intervention rights in a reunified Cyprus as the main reason for the talks.
Christodoulides has said he draws the line on those two Turkish demands but will use Cyprus’ EU membership to engage with Ankara on ways to break the current impasse.
February 12, 2023 (AP Photo/Petros Karadzias)
“The current situation cannot be considered a solution to the Cyprus issue, and I have expressed my readiness to use our EU membership to break the impasse and lead us to an agreement as soon as possible, To reconnect with our homeland,” Christodoulides said from his campaign headquarters, accompanied by his wife and four daughters.
On the economy, Christodoulides said the top priority would be maintaining fiscal discipline and effectively dealing with unauthorized migration without jeopardizing the country’s social safety net.
The president-elect aims to accelerate the development of newly discovered natural gas reserves off the southern coast of Cyprus as Europe grapples with an energy crisis.
“The candidacy of Mr. Christodoulides is an opportunity for the people of Cyprus to turn the page with a new type of governance, with a humanitarian aim above all else,” said Neophytos Makrides, 58, while casting his vote in Paphos. . “No to corruption and in favor of a correct solution to the Cyprus problem.”