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Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 08-02-17Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>CONTENTS
[01] ELECTIONS - NEXT ROUNDChief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides has announced that a run off election will be held on February 24, since no candidate in Sunday`s first round of presidential elections secured 50% plus one vote, necessary to be elected President of the Republic.Announcing the final official results of the elections, Savvides said ``our predictions have been fully verified and voting ended normally, the counting of ballot papers was also carried out normally, and at 1930 we had the final results.`` Savvides said Ioannis Kasoulides and Demetris Christofias would be participating in the run off election, having secured most of the votes. He added that 462,847 voters cast their ballots, translating into 89.62% of the electorate. ``In the 2003 presidential elections 90.55% of the electorate cast their vote. Abstention today reached 10.38%, invalid votes 1.68% and blank votes 0.95%, while valid ballot papers were 97.36%,`` Savvides said. Savvides said Kasoulides secured 150.996 votes or 33.51%, Christofias 150,016 or 33.29%, and current President Tassos Papadopoulos 143,249 or 31.79%. Andreas Efstratiou received 713 votes or 0.16%, Costas Themistocleous 753 or 0.17%, Costas Kyriacou (Utopos) 1,092 or 0.24%, Marios Matsakis 3,460 or 0.77%, Anastasis Michael 117 or 0.03%, and Christodoulos Neophytou 243 votes or 0.05%. ``In view of this result, we will have a run off election next Sunday, February 24, with Kasoulides and Christofias,`` Savvides said. He added that he had already given instructions to the Deputy Chief Returning Officer to contact the offices of Kasoulides and Christofias regarding the printing of the ballot papers in view of the run off election. Savvides said he expected the new President to be proclaimed at around 2230 local time on February 24 in Nicosia. [02] KASOULIDES - STATEMENTSPresidential candidate Ioannis Kasoulides, who went through to the run-off election of February 24, has called on the people of Cyprus to join forces and remember everything that unites them. ``I call on every Cypriot citizen to come with us. Better days are ahead. Let us live them together,`` Kasoulides said. He thanked all those who supported him and gave him the first place in the first round of the elections, noting that ``today the first step was taken to create, all together, the tomorrow we deserve, the tomorrow we envisage.````What we need now is to translate into action all the optimism and the hope we have built for a Cyprus in the 21st century,`` he said. Kasoulides added that ``the time has come for all those who believe Cyprus should become a modern European state to meet, to overcome whatever separated the people of Cyprus, especially over the past few years, to remember the fundamental values that join us.`` ``Now is the time to move forward united,`` Kasoulides said and congratulated the other presidential candidates, especially Demetris Christofias, who will be in the run-off election, and Tassos Papadopoulos, whom he described as a politician who ``served the country in the way he saw fittest`` and which ``every citizen should acknowledge and show respect owed to him.`` Kasoulides noted that ``the only way forward for the question of Cyprus is through a diplomatic offensive,`` adding that ``it is time to meet with those who believe that the only way for Cyprus is that of Europe and the strengthening of our international presence.`` [03] CHRISTOFIAS - STATEMENTSPresidential candidate Demetris Christofias has said he would be meeting with the Democratic Party (DIKO) and the Movement of Social Democrats EDEK in view of the second round of the presidential elections on Sunday February 24, in which he secured his participation along with Ioannis Kasoulides. Christofias expressed respect to President Tassos Papadopoulos, who was running for re-election, noting that ``it is a fact that, irrespective of our disagreement with some choices, the President served the interests of our country.````Time is working against the Republic of Cyprus. Based on this reality, next Sunday the citizens of Cyprus will be called upon to answer a pivotal dilemma concerning the direction and content of a just and viable solution of the Cyprus problem,`` he said. He added that ``the threat of division does not come from the intransigence of Turkey alone, but also from the possibility of a bad solution.`` ``We will never accept a solution that will not meet the fundamental principles we have shaped all these years,`` Christofias said. He also referred to the option Cypriots have, between a mixed economy and social justice which AKEL represents and neo-liberal recipes which Kasoulides represents. ``I am certain that we share these dilemmas with the leadership and the people who vote for DIKO and EDEK, the Ecologists and other movements, with which we have given common struggles for progressive solutions to the problems of our people,`` he added. Christofias said he would make the most out of relations with the Turkish Cypriots, built over the years, through common struggles, for the benefit of the country. [04] PAPADOPOULOS - STATEMENTSPresident of the Republic Tassos Papadopoulos has congratulated presidential candidates Ioannis Kasoulides and Demetris Christofias, who secured their participation in the run off election of February 24, noting that the decision of the people was fully respected. In remarks after the announcement of the final results of the first round of presidential elections, Papadopoulos said the concerns he expressed during the pre-election period were sincere and called on the people to be vigilant in view of developments in the Cyprus problem.Papadopoulos thanked all the citizens who voted for him and the political parties that supported him, noting that ``the people judged and decided.`` ``Their decision is fully respected,`` he said and noted that ``during my term in office I have always spoken with sincerity to the citizens, my thoughts, decisions and actions were always guided by my love for the country and my concern for the people.`` Papadopoulos said that his five years in office were ``years of creation and service, and we lived historic times with the citizens.`` ``We lived our accession to the EU. We saved the Republic of Cyprus in April 2004. We experienced economic growth, social cohesion, the adoption of the euro, the presence of Cyprus in the heart of Europe,`` he added. He expressed pride in ``all that which we have lived and achieved together,`` adding that ``there will be developments in the Cyprus problem and I call on the people to be vigilant.`` ``Personally I will always be present, beside the people. For our Cyprus,`` Papadopoulos concluded. Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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