Letters from Cyprus: Election time in Cyprus

Current president Demetris Christofias (on left), engaged
in UN sponsored peace talks

It's election time in Cyprus, and voters will go to the polls to elect a new president on 17th Feb. Cyprus has a presidential system of Government, with the elected leader sitting for a 5 year term. The current president, Demetris Christofias (from the communist Progressive Party of Working People) is not seeking re-election. Twelve new candidates are standing for the presidency, representing a full spectrum of political parties and views. If no candidate wins atleast 50% of the vote on the 17th Feb, a second round will take place the following week between the two top candidates to determine the presidency.

Nicos Anastasiades: widely tipped to be the next
President of Cyprus

The elections are taking place at a challenging time for the island, with the current economic crisis and a pending European/Russian financial bailout, conditional upon heavy austerity measures across all parts of the public sector. Think Greece but with a much smaller economy. Likewise there is minimal progress on talks with Turkey regarding north Cyprus. So there is no shortage of challenges for the incoming President. Despite there being 12 formal contenders, the race is basically down to three candidates: Nicos Anastasiades, Giorgos Lillikas and Stavros Malas, with Anastasiades widely tipped to win.

On another note, we've enjoyed having some visitors from Australia over the past week. Sarah's cousin Jan, husband Pip and daughter Isabelle have been with us after their trip to Ethiopia and the UK. It's been a great time of cousins re-connecting after a tumultuous decade of child-rearing. Sharing in a few favourite places around Cyprus is always a great reminder of this interesting island. The weather has been relatively mild also, but still cold enough to keep some snow on the mountains. A few pics from the visit are included below: