Greek Cypriots vote in second round to elect leader

NICOSIA

Greek Cypriots began casting votes to elect a new leader in the second round of elections on Feb. 4. 

The first round was held on Jan. 28 during which none of the candidates passed the 50 percent vote threshold, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. 

Current leader Nicos Anastasiades, supported by The Democratic Rally (DISI) party, bagged 35.5 percent of the vote in the first round, while Stavros Malas, supported by communist AKEL took 30.3 percent. 

Anastasiades and Malas were now competing in the second round. 

The candidate, who takes the most votes in the second round, will be the new leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration which has 550,876 registered voters. 

The voting started at 7 a.m. local time (0500GMT) and will continue until 6 p.m. (1600GMT). 

The Greek Cypriot polls come in the wake of Jan. 7 general elections in the Turkish Cyprus, Greek Cypriots' neighbor on the divided Eastern Mediterranean island. 

If Anastasiades gets reelected, peace negotiations with the TRNC are expected to resume. 

The result of the second round is expected to be announced at 7.30 p.m. (1730GMT), and at 10 p.m. (2000GMT) the newly-elected leader will be officially announced.  

Cyprus has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including the latest initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the U.K. collapsing in 2017.