Cyprus president eliminated from runoff

President Tassos Papadopoulos was eliminated Sunday in a cliff-hanger first round of Cyprus' presidential election - a surprise result that could signal a renewed drive to end the island's decades-old division.

Communist party leader Demetris Christofias, 61, and 59-year-old former Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides of the conservative DISY party will now vie for the five-year presidency in a Feb. 24 runoff.

The election is seen as pivotal to the decades-old search for a deal to reunify the ethnically divided island, a division that has proven to be a major stumbling block to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.

Both are seen as more moderate and have said they want speedy negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots who have been split from the Greek Cypriot south since 1974, when a failed bid to unite the island with Greece triggered a Turkish invasion.

The island's division has proven a major stumbling block to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.

Despite coming from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, Kasoulides and Christofias both stressed the need for a "diplomatic offensive" to stave off the threat of permanent partition. Talks to reunite the island have been deadlocked for years.

The election had been billed as a verdict on center-right Papadopoulos, 74, and his handling of the island's division. The president was instrumental in Greek Cypriots' rejection of a U.N. reunification plan in 2004, which the Turkish Cypriots approved in separate referendums.

Kasoulides and Christofias had argued that Papadopoulos' regressive policies had driven the island closer toward permanent partition.

Final results showed Kasoulides with a very slight lead, with 33.51 percent compared to 33.29 percent for Christofias. Papadopoulos was close behind with 31.79 percent.

Supporters of both Christofias and Kasoulides spilled out onto the streets, cheering, honking car horns and waving Cypriot and a few Greek flags.

"At this crucial hour, the time has come to join our forces, to remember all that unites us and to put our country on a road of self-confidence and optimism," Kasoulides told jubilant supporters in his Nicosia headquarters.

Christofias said time was of the essence, but also warned against a "bad solution," potentially scuttling a deal. But he said he would work with Turkish Cypriots for a mutually acceptable deal.

"Next Sunday, we leave everything that divides us, we leave behind stalemate, we leave behind talk of the past and we forge a peaceful, happy future for all Cypriots without exception," he said.

Papadopoulos saw his slim lead in opinion polls erode in recent weeks, but he had been widely expected to advance to the second round.

"The people have judged and decided. Their choice is completely respected," he said as he conceded the election in a speech to the Cypriot people.

Now, it will be his supporters who will decide the next president in Sunday's runoff.

Leaders of smaller parties that backed Papadopoulos' re-election bid said they would decide in coming days which of the two candidates they would lend their support to.

Kasoulides, a European Parliament deputy, defied opinion polls that suggested he trailed his rivals despite closing the gap in the weeks before the election. He quickly sought to consolidate his support by appealing to Papadopoulos backers after the vote.

Cyprus is internationally represented by the Greek Cypriot government in the south, while the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north is recognized only by Ankara.

Despite Turkish Cypriot approval of the 2004 U.N. plan, its rejection by Greek Cypriots in separate referendums meant the island joined the European Union that year still divided.

Some 516,000 voters, including 390 Turkish Cypriots living in the south, were registered to vote, and turnout was more than 89 percent, election authorities said. Voting is compulsory in Cyprus.