Cypriots were voting for a new president yesterday in an election seen as pivotal to the decades-old search for a deal to reunify the ethnically divided island.
The election is billed as either a confidence vote in, or a repudiation of, center-right incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos, 74, who led the 2004 rejection of a UN reunification plan.
Polls suggest a neck-and-neck race between Papadopoulos and Demetris Christofias, 61, head of the reformed communist Progressive Party of the Working People.
For the first time since Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960, there is a strong third candidate in former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, 59, a member of the right-wing Democratic Rally party. The contest is likely to be settled in a Feb. 24 runoff.
With a new peace drive likely to start after the election, Papadopoulos said a renewed mandate for him would ensure an improved agreement that Cypriots could embrace.
"Today, Cyprus is stronger than ever before," Papadopoulos told reporters after casting his ballot near his Nicosia home. "I hope, with the help of the people, we can achieve the [reunification] solution that we desire and deserve. The future rests in our hands."
Cyprus is internationally represented by the Greek Cypriot government in the south, while the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north is recognized only by Ankara.
Despite Turkish Cypriot approval of the 2004 UN plan, its rejection by Greek Cypriots in separate referendums meant the island joined the EU in 2004 still divided.
All three candidates claim to be best qualified to head negotiations with the Turkish Cypriot community, separated from the Greek south since 1974 when a failed bid to unite the island with Greece triggered a Turkish invasion.
Some 516,000 voters, including 390 Turkish Cypriots living in the south, are registered to vote.
Voting began at 7am and no problems were reported, chief election officer Lazaros Savvides said.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
RSS