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Winds of change stop blowing for the Turkish Cypriots
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February 10, 2013
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TALES FROM THE COFFEESHOP: AT LEAST THE DAMS ARE FULL PAGE 17 INSIDE Cyprus Foundation stone laid for Limni project 3
World Thousands left without power after US blizzard 8
Property Steal the style of plush Anna Karenina 23
Motoring The future of hydrogen powered cars mapped out 31
Sport Bale spurs Tottenham to win over Toon back
Entering the final stretch Where do they stand on the issues? Page 4 New beginning or more of the same? Page 13 The great voting challenge Page 14 By Poly Pantelides
T
HIS TIME next week Cypriots will be in the process of voting in a new government and for the first time ever the main issue will be the economy, and not the Cyprus problem. Most analysts agree that the outcome will be crucial for the future of the island but it will be the voters who must decide who they think is best to run the country in a time of crisis. Entering the final stretch, the last election poll from state broadcaster CyBC last night, gave another clear lead to DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades with 39.9 per cent of those asked saying they intended to vote for him, compared with 24.2 per cent for AKEL-backed Stavros Malas and 20.2 per cent who said they were voting for EDEK-backed Giorgos Lillikas. But last night’s poll also confirmed previous ones showing a split among DIKO voters between Anastasiades and Lillikas, despite DIKO’s official support for the DISY chief. A total of 45.7 per cent of DIKO voters said they would vote for Lillikas, compared to 42.1 per cent who were voting for Anas-
tasiades. From AKEL, 79.3 per cent are voting for Malas, but 10.3 per cent said they were voting for Lillikas. Lillikas even got 3.2 per cent of DISY voters, 94.5 per cent of whom are voting for Anastasiades. Most people thought there would be a second round to determine a majority winner with 45.7 per cent saying they would choose Anastasiades over Malas who would get 31.0 per cent if he runs against Anastasiades. Anastasiades’ lead against Lillikas in a second round was smaller, according to the poll with 42.1 per cent saying they were voting for Anastasiades, 32.1 per cent for Lillikas. In that scenario, 49.4 per cent of DIKO voters would go with Lillikas and 43.9 per cent with Anastasiades. When the choice was Lillikas or Malas, most chose Lillikas (34.4 per cent) rather than Malas (27.5 per cent). Asked who they would not vote for under any circumstances vote, 38 per cent said that would be Malas and 34 per cent said they could not vote for Anastasiades. Asked how interested they were in the elections, 42 per cent said they weren’t very keen and 57 per cent they were quite or
An election rally for frontrunner Nicos Anastasiades on Friday night in Limassol very interested. A total of 85 per cent of those asked said they were definitely voting, an increase by ten percentage points since October 2012. Voting is mandatory in Cyprus, but in practice no one is prosecuted for being a no-show. Undecided voters came
to 22 per cent, most coming from DIKO (24 per cent), followed by AKEL (20 per cent), and DISY (12 per cent). Some 55 per cent thought Cyprus should sign a memorandum agreement on debt bailout terms agreed with its international lend-
ers but a third disagreed, and some 30 per cent said no party had the right attitude for negotiating with the lenders, known as the troika. Some 24 per cent thought DISY, whose leader is willing to sign
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