Conservative Nicos Anastasiades (Democratic Rally, DISY) won himself a second five year stint as Cypriot President in today’s run-off election. In a virtual carbon copy of the 2013 contest, he beat Stravros Malas, an independent backed by the leftist AKEL party, by 56 to 44 per cent – a score close to the 57-43 margin of five years ago.

Malas had run favourite Anastasiades reasonably close in the first round of voting a week ago, finishing just five points behind the incumbent on 30 per cent. But it was Anastasiades who did best in picking up the supporters of those parties whose candidates had been eliminated in the first round, gaining 20.5 percentage points in a week, compared to an extra 13.8 added by Malas. This was despite a lack of formal endorsements for Anastasiades from other party leaderships.

Anastasiades finished first in all five of Cyprus’ districts and among Cypriots abroad.

Turnout increased slightly between the two rounds from 71.9 to 74.0 per cent. Both figures were significantly below the participation rates in 2013, which were 83.1 and 81.6 per cent respectively. Nearly 6 per cent of all votes cast in the second round were either invalid or ‘blank’.

 

CYPRUS PRESIDENCY 4 February 2018
Second round, total votes and per cent
Five year term

Nicos Anastasiades (DISY – Democratic Rally) 215,281 votes or 55.99%
Stavros Malas (Independent/AKEL) 169,243 or 44.01%

Eligible voters: 550,876
Votes cast: 407,475
Valid votes: 384,524 (94.37%)
Turnout: 73.97% (2013: 81.58%)

Full results on the Cyprus Ministry of Interior website here.

 

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