2013 Cypriot presidential election


Presidential elections were held in Cyprus on 17 February 2013. A runoff was held on 24 February 2013. Nicos Anastasiades of Democratic Rally won the election. The other candidates were Stavros Malas of the Progressive Party of Working People ; Praxoula Antoniadou of the United Democrats; Lakis Ioannou with the support of LASOK; Loukas Stavrou; ELAM's Giorgos Charalambous, Giorgos Lillikas of Movement for Social Democracy ; and independents Andreas Efstratiou, Makaria-Andri Stylianou, Kostas Kyriacou and Solon Gregoriou. Although the president Demetris Christofias was not term-limited, he did not seek re-election in 2013.

Timeline of the 2013 presidential election

2012

February
March
April
June
July
August
September
October
November
January
February
;DISY
The first candidate who confirmed the intention to be the candidate of his party was DISY's Nicos Anastasiades on 11 February 2012 at the Pancypriot Convention of the party. The Supreme Council of DISY had to choose between Nicos Anastasiades and MEP, Eleni Theocharous. The Council voted in favour of Nicos Anastasiades with 673 votes and Eleni Theocharous with 103 votes.
;AKEL
When president Christofias decided not to be seeking re-election for February 2013, in late July AKEL's Central Committee decided to suggest Minister of Health Stavros Malas to be the candidate of the party. On 21 July 2012 the Pancypriot Convention of AKEL voted in favour of Stavros Malas with 1183 votes, against 81 and 17 abstentions. Stavros Malas confirmed his candidacy with the support of AKEL on 7 September. On 15 October he resigned as Minister of Health.
;Coalition attempt – EDEK
After a failed attempt by DIKO, Evroko, Ecological and Environmental Movement and EDEK to form a coalition, known as Intermediate political space, EDEK decided to back independent candidate Giorgos Lillikas on 27 July at the Central Committee of the party.
;DIKO
DIKO had two plans on the table. The first was to back Nicos Anastasiades and the second to back a candidate from DIKO. After the talks on 30 August between Nicos Anastasiades and the president of DIKO Marios Garoyian, the two leaders agreed for cooperation. On 25 September the Executive Bureau of DIKO officially suggested the Central Committee to back Anastasiades. At the Central Committee on 27 September 117 members voted in-favour of Anastasiades, 27 against and 2 abstained. The two parties had also talks with other parties such as Evroko and the Ecological and Environmental Movement to create and broaden a coalition of "National Unity".
;Evroko
Evroko was between to choose either Anastasiades or Lillikas. On 27 September president of Evroko Demetris Sillouris, had talks with Nicos Anastasiades and most possible scenario was to back DISY. Although, on 17 October Evroko's Executive Bureau decided not to back any of the candidates. At the Central Council, on 3 November, it had to be decided either the acceptance of EB's decision or denial. 75% of the members of the party voted in-favour of EB's decision and 25% against. The members can vote any of the two candidates they want.
;Ecological and Environmental Movement
The Movement's Convention was held on 7 October. The members had the opportunity to decide which candidate would be backed by the Movement. The results were split between Lillikas and Anastasiades. Lillikas got 45% and Anastasiades 40%. An electoral conference was scheduled to be held on 4 November where the decision was going to be determined. The Movement would back the candidate who obtained 60% of the vote. Although no candidate obtained 60% of the vote and so the voters of the Movement can vote any of the candidates they want.

Candidates and supporting parties

Eleven candidates were approved to participate in the elections. Each candidate had to be recommended by one Cypriot citizen and supported by eight more.

1st round

All the names of the candidates were announced on 18 January. The names are:
;Evroko
After the elimination of Giorgos Lillikas in the first round, Evroko decided to back Nicos Anastasiades.
;Ecological and Environmental Movement
The Movement chose to keep the first decision.
;EDEK
When Lillikas didn't pass to the second round, the Executive Bureau decided not to endorse any of the remaining candidates. In contrast with EDEK, the Party of European Socialists endorsed Malas. This endorsement brought anger to some EDEK's MP.
;Orthodox Church of Cyprus
The Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II, endorsed Nicos Anastasiades at the second round.

Main topics

Debates

had talks with all the spokespersons of the candidates. Lillikas and Malas wanted four debates, three before the first round and one before the second. Anastasiades wanted three because he believed that four debates would "harm the image" of the candidates. In a meeting with spokespersons of four large Cypriot media networks, it was proposed to hold five debates. In two debates all candidates would participate. The other three debates would be double, which means that they would be between two participants. However, on 7 November it was decided that three debates were going to be held before the first round and one before a possible second round.
The debates were held on 14 and 28 January and 11 February. The fourth and last presidential debate was held on 22 February. The structure of the debates was:
On 29 January, the independent candidate Andreas Efstratiou was accused of using the logo of Guinness World Records without the permission of the Corporation. The logo was printed on the ballot slip of the election. Efstratiou has been a holder of a Guinness World Record since 2007, when he created the longest wedding-gown train in the world. All the 545,180 ballot slips were destroyed and new ballot slips, without the logo, were printed. It was announced that €40,000 were wasted. The Central Electoral Service asked Efstratiou to pay at least €15,000. He refused, stating that he had 8 children and cannot afford the cost.

Opinion polls

A collection of opinion polls taken before the elections is listed below. After 9 February 2013, no opinion poll was allowed to be published.
Polling FirmSourceDate PublishedN.AnastasiadesG.LillikasS.MalasOthers
RAI Consultants16 September 2012
37.2%
14.2%
21.9%
1.5%
Evresis18 September 2012
35.2%
17.5%
19.7%
1.7%
Noverna23 September 2012
35.02%
15.81%
17.78%
-
Prime Consulting Ltd7 October 2012
34.7%
17.4%
18.5%
-
CMR Cypronetwork / Cybc18 October 2012
36.9%
17%
23.8%
1.2%
Evresis2 November 2012
36.9%
17.7%
20.6%
1.4%
RAI Consultants4 November 2012
38.8%
19.8%
21.1%
2.3%
CMR Cypronetwork / Cybc15 November 2012
36.8%
18.9%
22.8%
1.6%
Prime Consulting Ltd18 November 2012
35.9%
18.7%
19.6%
0.6%
Evresis27 November 2012
37.1%
19.6%
20.8%
0.6%
Noverna2 December 2012
35.6%
17.2%
18.1%
4.1%
Prime Consulting Ltd3 December 2012
35%
19.1%
18.6%
1.4%
CMR Cypronetwork / Cybc17 December 2012
37.1%
20.4%
23.1%
3.1%
Evresis22 December 2012
37.4%
19.8%
21.8%
0.5%
RAI Consultants Ltd13 January 2013
40.3%
17.9%
20.5%
6.1%
CMR Cypronetwork / Cybc17 January 2013
38%
19.7%
23.7%
2.7%
Prime Consulting Ltd27 January 2013
39.2%
18.8%
19.8%
4%
Evresis1 February 2013
40.8%
19.9%
22.2%
2.5%
Prime Consulting Ltd4 February 2013
39.8%
19.3%
20%
3%
Prime Consulting Ltd9 February 2013
40.6%
19.6%
20.4%
2.9%
RAI Consultants Ltd9 February 2013
42.1%
19.4%
21.1%
4.4%
CMR Cypronetwork / Cybc9 February 2013
39.9%
20.2%
24.2%
3%
Average – –
48.4%
22.52%
25.29%
3.79%

Comparative results (only valid votes)

;RAI Consultants
Date PublishedN.AnastasiadesG.LillikasS.MalasOthers
16/949.73%18.98%29.28%2%
4/1147.32%24.15%25.73%2.8%
13/147.52%21.11%24.17%7.19%
8/248.39%22.3%24.25%5.05%
Average48.24%21.64%25.85%4.26%

;Evresis
Date PublishedN.AnastasiadesG.LillikasS.MalasOthers
18/947.5%23.62%26.59%2.29%
2/1148.17%23.11%26.9%1.83%
27/1147.5%25.1%26.63%0.77%
22/1247.04%24.91%27.42%0.63%
1/247.78%23.3%26%2.92%
Average47.6%24%26.71%1.69%

;Noverna
Date PublishedN.AnastasiadesG.LillikasS.MalasOthers
23/951.04%23.04%25.91%-
2/1247.47%22.93%24.13%5.46%
Average49.25%23%25.02%2.73%

;Prime Consulting Ltd
Date PublishedN.AnastasiadesG.LillikasS.MalasOthers
7/1049.15%24.65%26.2%-
18/1148%25%26.2%0.8%
3/1247.23%25.78%25.1%1.89%
27/147.92%22.98%24.21%4.89%
4/248.48%23.51%24.36%3.65%
9/248.62%23.47%24.43%3.47%
Average48.23%24.23%25.08%2.45%

;CMR Cypronetwork/Cybc
Date PublishedN.AnastasiadesG.LillikasS.MalasOthers
18/1046.77%21.55%30.16%1.52%
15/1145.94%23.6%28.46%2%
17/1244.32%24.37%27.6%3.7%
17/145.18%23.42%28.18%3.21%
9/245.7%23.14%27.72%3.44%
Average45.58%23.22%28.42%2.77%

Results and reaction

On 24 February, Nicos Anastasiades won the presidential election with 57.48% of the vote; his opponent Stavros Malas received the remaining 42.52%. Of 545,000 eligible voters, 412,000 cast a ballot for one of the two candidates. In addition, the 81% turnout was lower than expected. It is believed that many people cast blank ballots or refused to vote out of protest. A week earlier, Anastasiades had won 45% of the first round vote with Malas receiving 27%, necessitating a second round of voting since no candidate received a strong majority of the votes. In that round, Giorgos Lillikas won 24% of the vote and eight minor candidates received under 1% each.
Anastasiades' victory led to celebrations in the nation's capital of Nicosia and boosted hopes of reaching a financial bailout deal with international banks. Economist Stelios Platis remarked "I would expect the markets, and business, to welcome Anastasiades's victory because he knows the rules of the game very well." However, political analyst Alexander White said immediate resolution to Cyprus' debt problems was unlikely. Agence France-Presse remarked that Anastasiades represented a stark contrast to the outgoing government and speculated that "his perceived bias towards big business may put him on a collision course with influential and powerful trade unions". In his concession speech, Malas pledged to support Anastasiades "in actions and politics that we believe are followed for the good of the country".
Anastasiades was sworn in on 28 February 2013 and assumed power on 1 March.

Results (by district)