NICOSIA (AFP) — A new political landscape emerged in Cyprus on Monday after voters dumped incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos in the first round of a presidential election in a major boost for efforts to reunify the island.
Papadopoulos, who led Greek Cypriots in rejecting a UN peace blueprint four years ago, came in third behind two challengers both seen as more favourable to a deal with the Turkish Cypriots to end the island's three-decade division.
Conservative Euro MP and former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides and communist party leader Demetris Christofias will now face off in a second-round battle on February 24.
"Cyprus says 'no' to Tassos," thundered the headline in the English-language Cyprus Mail, in a reference to Papadopoulos's rejection of the peace plan in 2004, while the right-wing Simerini hailed a "historic Sunday".
Kasoulides headed Sunday's poll, closely followed by parliament speaker Christofias whose communist party AKEL has close ties with Moscow. Fewer than 1,000 votes separated the two.
Both have pledged to renew contacts with the rival Turkish Cypriot community across the UN-patrolled buffer zone if they win the presidency.
Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkey invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. The Greek Cypriot administration in the south is the island's internationally-recognised government.
International mediators hold Papadopoulos, 74, responsible for the Greek Cypriot rejection of the UN reunification blueprint which was overwhelmingly backed by the Turkish Cypriots in a 2004 referendum.
The failure of the plan meant a divided island joined the European Union in 2004, leaving only the Greek Cypriot south enjoying full benefits of membership.
"In terms of engaging the international community and the UN this result does help," an EU diplomat told AFP.
"Both (Kasoulides and Christofias) have sent strong signals that they will be pro-active and immediately engage with the Turkish Cypriots soon after they are elected."
The Cyprus Mail said the result was an emphatic defeat for Papadopoulos's "sterile policy" on Cyprus, which it warned had brought the island "perilously close to permanent partition."
Veteran analyst Sofronis Sofroniou told AFP the election outcome was positive because there would be more efforts to find a solution.
"It is a new start with a more realistic approach by the Greek Cypriots, they will be more flexible," he said.
Kasoulides, 59, who is backed by the right-wing, has argued that his time as foreign minister and as an MEP means he has the clout to work with the international community.
"Now is the time to overcome all that has divided the people on the Cyprus problem these past years," he told cheering supporters on Sunday.
Christofias, 61, also vowed to work for a Cyprus settlement but, in a bid to reassure Papadopoulos supporters whose votes he will need if he is to win the run-off, he stressed he did not want a deal at any price.
"The threat of partition not only comes from Turkish intransigence but also from a bad settlement. We will never accept a solution unless it's based on the principles we have fought for all these years."
Greek Cypriots have however voiced concern over Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, fearing it could set a precedent for the Turkish Cypriots in the north.
"This type of recognition causes a precedent and will cause problems in the future and I wonder where this type of recognition will stop with other states seeking to do the same," said government spokesman Vasilis Palmas.
Only Ankara recognises the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which was declared in 1983, and maintains at least 30,000 troops there.
The winner of next week's runoff, involving more than half a million voters, has to clinch at least 50 percent plus one vote and will be sworn in on February 28.
"In the end it will come down to party alliances and horse trading," European University of Cyprus research executive Pambos Papageorgiou told AFP.
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