THE RACE is on between DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades and AKEL-backed Stavros Malas to see who will garner enough support to be declared the next President of Cyprus this coming Sunday.
After Anastasiades attracted over 45 per cent of the vote last Sunday, just five percentage points short of outright victory, and Malas 27 per cent, taking them both into the runoff election, all eyes are now on the 25 per cent of the population who voted for EDEK-backed Giorgos Lillikas to see which way their vote will swing in five days time.
The two runoff candidates will likely use this week to also reach out to the 17 per cent of the population that abstained in the first round.
Both the Anastasiades and Malas camps yesterday declared victory in the elections, while behind the scenes, campaign delegates busied themselves sending feelers out to the parties without a horse in the race.
After the election results were announced, Anastasiades communicated with the leaders of EDEK, the Greens and EVROKO on Sunday night, according to his campaign spokesman Tasos Mitsopoulos.
Commenting on Sunday’s results, Mitsopoulos said: “Over 70 per cent of Cypriot citizens sent a strong message rejecting the policies of the outgoing President (Demetris) Christofias and the AKEL leadership.”
DISY spokesman Haris Georgiades thanked the more than 200,000 citizens who trusted Anastasiades and “gave him the biggest percentage that any candidate takes with him to a second round of elections”.
He added: “Austerity, cuts, unemployment and social distress are what the outgoing government of Christofias-AKEL are leaving behind. Recovery and growth, investments, new jobs, international credibility and effectiveness are what the new government of Nicos Anastasiades will bring.”
Malas’ spokesman Takis Hadjigeorgiou had a different view: “One thing that’s clear is that the Cypriot people don’t want to see Mr Anastasiades in power,” he said, referring to the fact that the DISY leader came up five percentage points short of a majority.
“Let no one be fooled. Voting for Mr Anastasiades means a government of salvation of the right,” that will go against workers’ rights and in favour of privatisations, he argued.
AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou also saw the upside of Anastasiades’ election result: “Mr Anastasiades asked for a strong mandate to win the elections in the first round, but the people did not give him this. A significant majority of voters did not trust Mr Anastasiades because they know that his positions have no limits or conditions regarding the Cyprus problem.”
Kyprianou also slated the DISY leader for planning “austerity, cuts and privatisations” for Cyprus, warning that today’s unemployment will increase by tens of thousands if Anastasiades is elected.
Meanwhile, Lillikas yesterday showed signs of greater ambitions than coming third in an election race.
According to reports, his campaign team politely refused invitations for meetings with the two remaining candidates. Instead, Lillikas pledged to enter into dialogue with his supporters across Cyprus, starting today and ending Thursday before announcing on Friday what decision he’ll take in the runoff election.
Reports suggested he was leaning towards proposing a conscience vote to those who supported his candidacy.
The independent candidate got official backing from EDEK in Sunday’s election but succeeded in luring many voters from EVROKO, the Greens and more significantly, DIKO, whose leadership officially endorsed Anastasiades.
“I did not only appeal to people of the middle ground (centre of the political spectrum), I appealed to the citizens, and the results of the election prove that we went beyond the ‘limits’ of the so-called middle ground. I continue to appeal to all members of the public,” said Lillikas.
Asked about reports that he plans to harness this support from EVROKO and DIKO members to form a new party, he replied: “We have heard a lot of rumours in these elections, not to mention polls and exit polls. When I have something to say, I will say it myself.”
He added: “Certainly, (Sunday) was not the end, it was the beginning. The people gave me a mandate; I will carry out that mandate.”
As for EDEK, now that its candidate is out the running, party leader Yiannakis Omirou said yesterday he had “no fears or concerns” about reports that Lillikas planned to form a new party.
Omirou plans to meet both Anastasiades and Malas today, after requests from the two to meet with him.
EDEK’s political bureau will meet later on today, while a decision on what position to take for the second round will be made on Thursday, said Omirou.
The Greens’ central committee decided last night on a conscience vote for Sunday while EVROKO leader Demetris Syllouris said his party’s central council will decide tomorrow on a proposal by the executive office to support Anastasiades’ candidacy.
EVROKO members were asked to cast a conscience vote in the first round between Anastasiades and Lillikas. However, it is believed the majority of members supported Lillikas.
EVROKO member and Lillikas supporter Stelios Americanos yesterday rejected the idea of supporting Anastasiades.
He noted that Lillikas was the first presidential candidate to reject the notion of a bizonal, bicommunal federation for a reunited Cyprus and still got 25 per cent of the vote. “I am proud of my vote,” he said.
The biggest question hangs over what DIKO members will do, considering that reports suggest less than half its members voted for the party’s official candidate Anastasiades.
Before the election, DIKO vice-president Nicolas Papadopoulos, son of the former president, the late Tassos Papadopoulos, stepped down from the party leadership expressing his disapproval of Anastasiades, while failing to hide his support for Lillikas.
DIKO released a statement yesterday highlighting that Sunday’s election was not a dilemma between left and right, but between going forwards or backwards, and saving the country’s economy.
It remains to be who will succeed in attracting the “middle ground” in the coming days. Perhaps making life a little more confusing, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday that the new ballot papers for the second round are ready, with a box for Anastasiades printed on the left, and Malas on the right.
According to the Chief Returning Officer, the results of Sunday’s presidential election were as follows: Nicos Anastasiades won 45.46 per cent of the vote (counting for 200,591 votes); Stavros Malas 26.91 per cent (118,755 votes); Lillikas 24.93 per cent (109,996 votes); ELAM’s Giorgos Charalambous came fourth with 0.88 per cent (3,899 votes), United Democrat’s Praxoula Antoniadou-Kyriacou got 0.61 per cent (2,678 votes); indepedent Makaria Antri Stylianou received 0.43 per cent (1,898 votes); Lakis Ioannou 0.29 per cent (1,278); Solon Grigoriou 0.18 per cent (792); Costas Kyriacou (Outopos) 0.16 per cent (722); Andreas Efstratiou 0.10 per cent (434); and Loucas Stavrou 0.05 per cent, counting for 213 registered voters.
Voter participation reached 83.14 per cent, representing 453,534 voters, showing a marked decrease from the 2008 presidential elections when 89.62 per cent turned up to vote.
In total, abstentions came to 16.86 per cent; the percentage of void ballots was 1.72 per cent and blank ballots came to 0.98 per cent.
Bailout papers for next Sunday's run-off elections for a new president are ready. (Christos Theodorides)