Cyprus officially announced its presidential election campaign yesterday, Michael Jansen writes from Nicosia. The polling date for the first round has been fixed for February 8th and the second round run-off for February 15th Unofficially, half-a-dozen candidates have been running for office for the past two years, with the incumbent president, Mr Glafkos Clerides, of the right-wing Democratic Rally, and Mr George Iacovou, a former foreign minister supported by the Communist Akel, the two most likely to succeed.
But since the Democratic Rally and Communist Akel parties each command just over one-third of the vote, the two men are almost evenly matched and are compelled to compete for the backing of the gaggle of small parties lying between the two poles.
As the campaign kicked off former president Mr Spiros Kyprianou, whose Democratic Party had been in coalition with Mr Clerides's Democratic Rally party until recently, sided with Mr Iacovou, making him the initial favourite. Other declared candidates include another former president, Mr George Vassiliou, and the veteran socialist party leader, Dr Vassos Lysarides. Both Mr Clerides and Mr Iacovou favour rapprochement with the Turkish Cypriot community and seek a settlement based on UN proposals for a bicommunal, bizonal federation. And both support Cyprus's entry into the European Union, with accession talks scheduled to begin in April.
However, Mr Clerides would be the choice of the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, who, since the European Union decided to accept Greek Cyprus in the first round of new entrants, has been threatening to boycott settlement talks, disrupt contacts between the two communities and cut contacts with both the UN and diplomats who do not recognise his breakaway Turkish Republic of North Cyprus.