Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Cyprus headed to the polls Sunday for a tightly fought presidential runoff election. The two candidates who are seeking the presidency are career diplomats.
Polling stations across the country are set to close at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).
The winner of the election will succeed two-term President Nicos Anastasiades as head of state and government of the country, which an EU member.
Forty-nine-year-old former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides and 66-year-old fellow diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis are vying for the top sport after the inconclusive first-round vote that was held last Sunday.
Christodoulides is running as an independent after defecting from the ruling DISY party and grabbed 32.04 percent votes a week ago
On the other hand, Mavroyiannis is backed by the communist AKEL party and won 29.59 percent of the votes in the last round.
The candidate who secures more than 50 percent of the vote will succeed Anastasiades to become the country’s eighth president.
Turnout in run-off vote higher than in first round
President Nicos Anastasiades urged Cypriots to come out fully and take part in this electoral process it was a duty. He added that people decide which leads to the majority winning and the minority respects the vote.
A turnout of 35.4 percent of registered voters was reported by the country’s election officials.
They described the turnout as being higher than in the first round.
