NICOSIA, Feb 17: Hardline Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos was ousted on Sunday in the first round of Greek Cypriot elections, a result seen as renewing hopes for efforts to end the island’s three-decade division.

Former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, backed by the right-wing, and communist party chief Demetris Christofias will battle it out in a presidential runoff on Feb 24, after the Greek Cypriots voted for change.

The result proved a major upset for Papadopoulos, who was a favourite for re-election in the opinion polls and who campaigned on a hardline stance on the Cyprus problem.

In the final results after a cliffhanger contest, Papadopoulos came in third behind Kasoulides and then Christofias, who were separated by fewer than 1,000 votes. The outgoing president was about 7,000 votes behind the frontrunners.

Papadopoulos congratulated his challengers and pledged to respect the people’s decision. But he urged the Greek Cypriots to “stay alert” on developments in the Cyprus problem.

It was only the third time in the island’s 48 years of independence that a sitting president has been denied re-election.

Supporters of the two winners drove through the rainy streets of Nicosia, the world’s last divided capital, blowing their horns and flying their candidates’ colours.

The result means Kasoulides, 59, and parliamentary speaker Christofias, 61, of the AKEL communist party will go head-to-head in a runoff next Sunday.

Kasoulides ran as an independent with the support of the right-wing DISY party.

“The vote next week will be a clear choice for the people of Cyprus. They will be at a crossroads. They can look to the political left and right and choose their path,” said Demitris Melas, a 51-year-old trader.

The prospects of Kasoulides and Christofias depend on their election alliances in the runup to the second round, in which the winner must clinch at least 50 percent plus one vote.

About half a million Greek Cypriots — as well as, for the first time, about 400 Turkish Cypriots — were registered to vote in the election, which the local press billed as the most important in the history of Cyprus.

Turnout was about 90 per cent, as voting is compulsory in Cyprus. The three main candidates — out of a field of nine — flew in more than 20,000 young Greek Cypriots studying abroad to take part in the vote.

Papadopoulos’s two main rivals had pledged to get peace talks back on track after they were effectively stalled following a Greek Cypriot rejection of a UN peace plan in 2004 at the urging of Papadopoulos.

“From Christofias and Kasoulides we can expect considerable developments and a far more constructive approach from the Greek Cypriots,” said Hubert Faustmann, associate professor at the University of Nicosia.

Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan said ahead of the vote that he remained hopeful of a Cyprus settlement “at last”, while accusing Papadopoulos of being “evasive” and “reticent”.

In a sign of the mistrust on the island, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Talat’s spokesman has charged the presidential candidates planned policies aimed at hampering Turkey’s EU bid to try to extract concessions on Cyprus.—AFP