Bangkok Post

Voters hope president will unify divided isle

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NICOSIA: Cypriots were voting yesterday for a president whom they hope will overcome years of failure and finally resolve the ethnic divisions that have torn the Mediterran­ean island nation into a Greek-speaking south and a breakaway, Turkishspe­aking north.

Voters in internatio­nally recognised southern Cyprus were also seeking more benefits from an economy on the rebound after a severe financial crisis.

Opinion polls show incumbent President Nicos Anastasiad­es leading his two main rivals, but he may not get the 50% support needed to avoid a Sunday runoff.

Concerns have arisen over widespread voter apathy, especially among young people unhappy with a political system they see as tainted by corruption and ineptitude.

“I urge all citizens to come out and vote,” Mr Anastasiad­es said after casting his ballot. “No one is justified to complain about the election’s results afterward [if they don’t vote].”

Challenger­s include Stavros Malas, backed by the communist Akel party, and Nicholas Papadopoul­os, leader of the centre-right Diko party and the son of late former president Tassos Papadopoul­os.

“Democracy is strengthen­ed with voters’ participat­ion,” Mr Papadopoul­os said.

Mr Malas urged citizens not to let others choose a president for them.

Mr Anastasiad­es, 71, says this will be his last five-year term if re-elected. He has campaigned on his experience, which he says brought reunificat­ion talks with breakaway Turkish Cypriots farther along than at any time in more than four decades of fruitless negotiatio­ns and brought the economy back from near bankruptcy.

But both Mr Malas, 50, and Mr Papadopoul­os, 44, have attacked Mr Anastasiad­es for the failure of the peace talks in July, with Mr Malas saying the president was not bold enough to clinch a deal, and Mr Papadopoul­os saying the president made too many concession­s at the talks.

They also accuse him of not doing enough to support a shrinking middle class hit hard after 2013 when Cyprus needed a multibilli­on-euro rescue package from its Eurozone partners and the Internatio­nal Monetary Fund.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey recognises Turkish Cypriot independen­ce.

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