With 14 candidates within the working, opinion polls level to a race between three frontrunners.

Individuals within the Republic of Cyprus have begun voting for his or her eighth president within the ethnically divided island’s 63-year historical past as an unbiased state, with three frontrunners.

Heralding the top of two phrases for incumbent conservative President Nicos Anastasiades, some 561,000 Greek Cypriots are eligible to vote within the election on Sunday after a marketing campaign dominated by points reminiscent of corruption, labour disputes associated to accelerating inflation, irregular migration, and a deadlocked peace course of with estranged Turkish Cypriots who stay within the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Polling stations opened at 7am (05:00 GMT) and shut at 6pm (16:00 GMT). Climate forecasters stated there will probably be heavy rain and storms on Sunday, which may have an effect on voter turnout.

With 14 candidates within the working, opinion polls level to a race between three frontrunners.

Nikos Christodoulides, 49, a former authorities spokesman and overseas minister who has persistently led all opinion polls all through the months-long marketing campaign, is working because the candidate who can bridge get together affiliations and ideological fault traces to unite a fractured voters.

Opinion polls have persistently proven Christodoulides will head into the run-off towards both the right-wing DISY get together chief Averof Neophytou or profession diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, who’s backed by the leftist AKEL get together.

An editorial within the liberal every day newspaper Politis stated Cyprus had been referred to as to elect a president to rule “with honesty, equity and transparency”, whereas bigger-selling Phileleftheros highlighted expectations of excessive voter abstention.

Cypriots will count on the brand new president to shortly transfer to buttress an economic system buffeted by Russia’s struggle in Ukraine and its knock-on impact on the price of dwelling.

Cyprus has complied with all sanctions towards Russia and Belarus, following the invasion of Ukraine.

Migration has additionally been a hot-button situation amid a continued inflow of asylum seekers that has made Cyprus one of many high European Union international locations by way of asylum purposes per capita.

Capitalising on Cyprus’ offshore pure fuel deposits amid an vitality crunch and getting again to the negotiating desk with breakaway Turkish Cypriots to resolve the island’s ethnic division are additionally precedence points.

Quite a few United Nations mediations to overcome the division have failed. Cyprus has been a member of the EU since 2004, however EU regulation and laws apply solely within the Greek Cypriot south.