NICOSIA, Cyprus — Former overseas minister Nikos Christodoulides was on Sunday elected president of the Republic of Cyprus, turning into at 49 the youngest chief of the divided Mediterranean island nation.
The seasoned politician gained 51.92 p.c of the vote in a run-off Sunday, intently beating out communist-backed profession diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis who took 48.08 p.c of ballots.
Widely tapped as a favourite even earlier than final Sunday’s first spherical of voting, he’s seen as an impartial backed by centrist events that take a tough line on moribund UN-backed talks on ending the island’s decades-old division.
His candidature sparked a schism throughout the conservative ruling DISY social gathering, whose candidate Averof Neofytou was booted out of the race after coming in third place within the first spherical—a primary within the social gathering’s historical past.
Hawkish on peace talks
Christodoulides served as authorities spokesman then overseas minister underneath outgoing President Nicos Anastasiades, however give up as minister final June to enter the race.
Christodoulides later discovered himself within the uncomfortable place of wooing votes from DISY, after Neofytou didn’t make the run-off.
DISY would often be anticipated to induce its supporters to vote in opposition to a communist-backed candidate, however Christodoulides is despised by many within the social gathering as a “traitor” who put private ambition over the pursuits of the social gathering and the island.
With a doctorate in political science from the University of Athens, the profession politician has additionally studied in Malta and New York.
He launched his diplomatic profession in 1999, climbing up the ranks till he grew to become overseas minister in 2018.
He beforehand thought-about that the primary issues dealing with the Cypriot citizens had been “the cost of living and housing, immigration and the Cyprus problem”, referring to the island’s division.
Talks have been in deep freeze since 2017 to resolve the division that resulted from Turkey’s 1974 invasion and occupation of the northern third of the island in response to a Greek-sponsored coup.
Christodoulides has lengthy taken a hawkish stance on peace talks.
He has furthermore mentioned he’s open to forming alliances with extreme-right events akin to ELAM, ultra-nationalists who got here in fourth place with six p.c of the vote.
Tackling corruption
Christodoulides has additionally vowed a “zero-tolerance” method to corruption because the island continues to take care of the fall-out from a cash-for-passports scandal that plagued the earlier administration.
Despite having been overseas minister in that cupboard, he managed to flee untainted by the scandal.
He ruffled feathers in September 2020 by blocking a European Union plan to sanction Belarus, saying Cyprus would solely agree if the bloc additionally sanctioned Turkey.
The former overseas minister additionally didn’t take a transparent stance on sanctions in opposition to Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, incomes him criticism for his so-called pro-Moscow place.
Cyprus has for many years been dwelling to a sizeable inhabitants of Russians.
Another key problem that Christodoulides has vowed to deal with is the subject of migration on the island, the place six p.c of the 915,000 folks dwelling within the south are asylum seekers.
Cyprus is second solely to Austria when it comes to having the best proportion of first-time asylum seekers throughout the EU.
The new president has vowed quicker processing occasions for asylum functions, with a goal of three,000 circumstances monthly. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
