Nikos Christodoulides elected as the next President of Cyprus

The new President also happens to be the former Foreign Minister of the country; thus, he comes with plenty of experience as far as governance is concerned.

New Delhi, Feb 13: Going through difficult times as the cost of living has gone up and there is a huge irregular immigration crisis, Cyprus has elected the new President in Nikos Christodoulides. He has defeated diplomat contestant Andreas Mavroyiannis with 51.9 percent of the vote. Interestingly, only 4,05,000 citizens voted in the elections.

The new President also happens to be the former Foreign Minister of the country; thus, he comes with plenty of experience as far as governance is concerned. Moreover, since he was winning all the opinion polls, it has hardly surprised the people. Although Cyprus is a small country with a small voting population, its importance could be seen from the geopolitical point of view.

It is a member of NATO and holds massive importance for the grouping. However, there are some internal issues that have not yet been solved. One of the issues that is still a ground of discontent is division between the Greek-speaking south and a Turkish-occupied breakaway part.

It's pertinent to note that Cyprus and Turkey don't hold great bilateral relations, especially as the latter invaded the earlier. Cypriots would never forget the date of July 20, 1974 when Turkish armed forces invaded Cyprus. This was not just a violation of all rules of international law and UN convention but also the understanding between the two nations.

Who is Nikos Christodoulides?

The newly elected President is quite young as he is about 50 years old. Born on 6th December 1973, he served not just as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022 but also played an important role as Spokesman of the Government from 2014 to 2018. Since he is a career diplomat, he has been pivotal in representing Cyprus' stand on issues pretty well in global fora and diplomatic conclaves.

With a bright career record as diplomat and then Foreign Minister of Cyprus, it was expected from him to contest for the Presidential elections earlier this year. He agreed for the campaign earlier in the January about his inclination to contest the elections and resigned from his position as the Foreign Minister.

Cyprus facing huge challenges

His election as the President is also coinciding with the deep economic trouble in the country. Whereas inflation is hitting Cyprus like it is hitting any other country in Europe, Cyprus too is caught in Ukrainian conflict as the war zone is not too far away. Moreover, it already has issues with neighbour Turkey and its leader Erdogan.