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02-24-2008, 03:40 PM
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) -- Exit polls showed communist-inspired Dimitris Christofias winning the crucial presidential runoff on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus on Sunday, giving him a marginal lead over conservative Ioannis Kasoulides.
http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/WORLD/europe/02/24/cyprus.election.ap/art.cyprus.afp.gi.jpgDemetris Christofias holds his grandson while casting his vote during the first round of presidential elections.
http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif
If confirmed, Christofias would become the European Union's only communist-rooted leader. Turnout was at 90.2 percent, said chief election officer Lazaros Savvides.
State-run CyBC's exit poll showed Christofias with 50.8 percent and Kasoulides with 49.2 percent. It gave a margin of error of 1.2 percentage points. Both candidates had vowed to move quickly to restart long-stalled talks to reunify Cyprus.
Other exit polls also put Christofias in the lead. Sigma television had him with 51.9 versus 48.1 for Kasoulides, while Mega television had Christofias winning 50-53 percent against Kasoulides' 47-50 percent.
Official results from 36 percent of ballots cast showed Christofias with 53.68 percent and Kasoulides with 46.32 percent.
"It's obvious that the exit polls show Christofias will win," said Andros Kyprianou, spokesman for Christofias' AKEL party, which grew out of the island's outlawed communist party in the 1940s.
But he later backed off his comment, stressing that it was still early and that these were only exit polls.
At Christofias' campaign headquarters in central Nicosia, supporters broke out into cheers and applause as the exit polls were announced.
Christofias has close ties with the Turkish Cypriot left wing, relations that have raised hopes for quickly restarting long-stalled negotations with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.
Reunification of the Greek Cypriot south and the Turkish Cypriot north would remove one of the obstacles to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union. It would also ease strong objections to Kosovo's new independence among Greek Cypriots who fear it would act as a precedent for north Cyprus.
"We will roll up our sleeves and work hard so that our island is reunified. Enough is enough, entrenching division is disastrous for our people and our island," Christofias told reporters after voting. "I also extend a message friendship to ordinary Turkish Cypriots."
It was the promise of an end to the stalemate over the country's division that produced the surprise exit of hardline incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos in a first-round vote last week.
Christofias and Kasoulides were running neck-and-neck until the last minute.
Both had accused Papadopoulos of regressive tactics edging Cyprus toward a permanent split with Turkish Cypriots, whose breakaway state is recognized only by Turkey. Papadopoulos was instrumental in urging Greek Cypriots to reject a 2004 U.N. reunification plan that Turkish Cypriots approved. A week later, the island joined the EU as a divided country.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat has said he is ready to resume talks with whoever wins the election.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a failed coup to unite the island with Greece. The island has one of the world's longest-serving U.N. peacekeeping missions, after U.N. soldiers arrived in 1964.
While Papadopoulos may be out, he will not be entirely without power. Sunday's runoff result depended on attracting many of the nearly 32 percent of voters who cast their ballots for the president in the first round.
But this would not mean he could shackle the winner and prevent him from carrying out his policies. Power in Cyprus rests with the president, who is the head of the government and the state.
Nearly 516,000 voters -- including 390 Turkish Cypriots living in the south -- were eligible to vote. Turkish Cypriot voters in the northern breakaway state were nothttp://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/24/cyprus.election.ap/index.html
http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/WORLD/europe/02/24/cyprus.election.ap/art.cyprus.afp.gi.jpgDemetris Christofias holds his grandson while casting his vote during the first round of presidential elections.
http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif
If confirmed, Christofias would become the European Union's only communist-rooted leader. Turnout was at 90.2 percent, said chief election officer Lazaros Savvides.
State-run CyBC's exit poll showed Christofias with 50.8 percent and Kasoulides with 49.2 percent. It gave a margin of error of 1.2 percentage points. Both candidates had vowed to move quickly to restart long-stalled talks to reunify Cyprus.
Other exit polls also put Christofias in the lead. Sigma television had him with 51.9 versus 48.1 for Kasoulides, while Mega television had Christofias winning 50-53 percent against Kasoulides' 47-50 percent.
Official results from 36 percent of ballots cast showed Christofias with 53.68 percent and Kasoulides with 46.32 percent.
"It's obvious that the exit polls show Christofias will win," said Andros Kyprianou, spokesman for Christofias' AKEL party, which grew out of the island's outlawed communist party in the 1940s.
But he later backed off his comment, stressing that it was still early and that these were only exit polls.
At Christofias' campaign headquarters in central Nicosia, supporters broke out into cheers and applause as the exit polls were announced.
Christofias has close ties with the Turkish Cypriot left wing, relations that have raised hopes for quickly restarting long-stalled negotations with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.
Reunification of the Greek Cypriot south and the Turkish Cypriot north would remove one of the obstacles to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union. It would also ease strong objections to Kosovo's new independence among Greek Cypriots who fear it would act as a precedent for north Cyprus.
"We will roll up our sleeves and work hard so that our island is reunified. Enough is enough, entrenching division is disastrous for our people and our island," Christofias told reporters after voting. "I also extend a message friendship to ordinary Turkish Cypriots."
It was the promise of an end to the stalemate over the country's division that produced the surprise exit of hardline incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos in a first-round vote last week.
Christofias and Kasoulides were running neck-and-neck until the last minute.
Both had accused Papadopoulos of regressive tactics edging Cyprus toward a permanent split with Turkish Cypriots, whose breakaway state is recognized only by Turkey. Papadopoulos was instrumental in urging Greek Cypriots to reject a 2004 U.N. reunification plan that Turkish Cypriots approved. A week later, the island joined the EU as a divided country.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat has said he is ready to resume talks with whoever wins the election.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a failed coup to unite the island with Greece. The island has one of the world's longest-serving U.N. peacekeeping missions, after U.N. soldiers arrived in 1964.
While Papadopoulos may be out, he will not be entirely without power. Sunday's runoff result depended on attracting many of the nearly 32 percent of voters who cast their ballots for the president in the first round.
But this would not mean he could shackle the winner and prevent him from carrying out his policies. Power in Cyprus rests with the president, who is the head of the government and the state.
Nearly 516,000 voters -- including 390 Turkish Cypriots living in the south -- were eligible to vote. Turkish Cypriot voters in the northern breakaway state were nothttp://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/24/cyprus.election.ap/index.html