President Glafkos Clerides of Cyprus is expected to be re-elected in tomorrow's run-off round of polling because four of the five candidates eliminated in last Sunday's first round gave him their support and the fifth opted for a free vote.
Mr Clerides (78) should be able to count on 48.8 per cent of the vote while his rival, Mr George Iacovou (59), a former foreign minister, has only the 40.6 per cent of the vote, which he secured in the first round.
Dr Vassos Lyssarides, of the small socialist party (EDEK), who took a surprising 10.6 per cent of the vote, used his leverage to secure from both candidates pledges to implement his political programme but then refused to endorse either and told his supporters to vote as they wished.
Once again the man who could never be king, rejected the role of kingmaker. But by so doing he condemned his own reformist programme to oblivion.
Nevertheless, Dr Lyssarides's strategy favours Mr Clerides because he needs only an additional 1.3 per cent of the vote, 5,850 of the 450,000 voters, to give him the simple majority needed for victory.
This has not, however, deterred Mr Iacovou's backers in the Communist Akel and centrist Democratic parties from vigorous campaigning or from offering round-trip tickets to Cypriots living abroad so they would come home and vote.
Leaving nothing to chance, Mr Clerides's right-wing Democratic Rally has also delved deep into its coffers to lay on charter flights for supporters.
Mr Clerides won in 1993 by only 2,000 votes over the then incumbent, Mr George Vassiliou, one of the five contenders eliminated last Sunday.
In exchange for supporting Mr Clerides in this round, Mr Vassiliou has been provisionally chosen to head the republic's team negotiating EU accession, beginning at the end of March.
The President's inauguration on February 28th will launch the "big push" towards a settlement which would reunify the island in a bizonal, bicommunal federation. Cyprus will receive a veritable stream of high level emissaries, including Mr Richard Holbrooke, the US broker of the Bosnian peace accords; Sir David Hannay, the current European Union envoy; and Mr Diego Cordovez, the representative of the UN Secretary General.
Although the western powers have studiously avoided demonstrating a preference, there is little doubt that Mr Clerides is their choice because he represents continuity on the Greek Cypriot side of the communal equation.
He has spent many long hours during the past troubled 34 years negotiating with the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, who has been boycotting peace talks since August.
AFP reports from Ankara:
The Turkish-Cypriot leadership said yesterday it is tightening entry requirements for Greeks and Greek Cypriots following the EU decision to start membership talks with the Greek part of the island.
From now on, Greeks and Greek Cypriots must appear at the Ledra Palace checkpoint in the divided capital, Nicosia, with a passport and pay 15 Cypriot pounds (about £20) for a visa, the Turkish-Cypriot TAK news agency reported.
