Nikos Christodoulides, 49, is the President-elect of the Republic of Cyprus, after securing 51.92% of the vote in a runoff round on Sunday.
With 100% of votes counted, 204,680 people voted for Christodoulides, while 189,522 (48.08%) voted for rival candidate Andreas Mavroyiannis.
Christodoulides, a former foreign minister and government spokesperson, ran against career diplomat Mavroyiannis, a former chief negotiator in peace talks with Turkish Cypriots and a former permanent representative of Cyprus to the United Nations.
Christodoulides is backed by centre and right-of-centre parties (Diko, Depa, Edek, Solidarity) and Mavroyiannis by the left-wing AKEL. Both said they ran as independents.
Α close associate of outgoing President Nicos Anastasiades, Christodoulides caused a split in the ruling conservative Disy party when he announced he will run against party leader Averof Neophytou, who was eliminated in the first round of the elections.
Estimates showed that around 75% of the Disy vote went to Christodoulides, while just over 20% voted for Mavroyiannis, a centrist-liberal.
The next president faces problems ranging from a deadlock in reunification talks, labour disputes amid runaway inflation and a fallout from corruption scandals, as well as a spike in migration, that authorities are unable to cope with.
The last round of peace talks collapsed in disarray in mid 2017. Christodoulides says he wants to resume talks, but says a United Nations framework governing talks, issued in 2017, should be renegotiated.
Christodoulides has frequently been in the public eye in the past decade, with the persona of a young, energetic politician offering fresh ideas.
After the first results started coming in, Mavroyiannis conceded defeat and congratulated Christodoulides. “Tonight is the end of a long but nice journey … I want to thank from the bottom of my soul all those who travelled with me,” he said.
Outgoing Nicos Anastasiades has been in power since 2013, having been re-elected in 2018.
