Cyprus gets new president

Nikos Christodoulidis is the new president of Cyprus after winning Sunday's runoff election with over 50% of the votes.

Christodoulides, 49 who previously served as the President's Spokesperson and Foreign Minister defeated Akel backed Andreas Mavroyiannis. Christodoulides is backed by centre and right-of-centre parties (Diko, Depa, Edek, Solidarity) Both said they ran as independents.

With 100 per cent of votes counted in the presidential elections, Christodoulides secured 51.91 per cent of the vote while Andreas Mavroyiannis got 48.09 per cent.

Results according to votes counted across the country are as follows:

Number of registered voters: 561,273

Number of votes cast: 406,626 (72.45%)

Number of unused votes: 154,647 (27.55%)

Valid number of votes: 394,255 (96.95%)

Number of invalid votes: 8,422 (2.07%)

Empty: 3,979 (0.98%)

Nominees: Nikos Christodoulides: 204,633 (51.91%) Andreas Mavroyiannis: 189.592 (48.09%).

Andreas Mavroyiannis conceded an hour after the voting stations had closed, thanking all his supporters “for the beautiful journey” they had embarked on.

“A long but beautiful journey has come to end. It gave me the opportunity to meet thousands of people and share hopes and dreams for our country.”

He thanked those who stood by his side, including Akel, which was the party that supported him. He also expressed his gratitude and pride for those that had voted for him from other parties.

“I’m disappointed we could not meet the hopes of all that voted for us.”

Mavroyiannis telephoned Christodoulides to congratulate him, and said he would remain a politically active citizen.