over rival Kasoulides

By Charlie Charalambous

AKEL party leader Demetris Christofias made history yesterday becoming the first communist to become Cyprus president after sailing past rival Ioannis Kasoulides.

After his overwhelming victory, Christofias was quick to stress the need for unity and cooperation from all sides in a changed political landscape.

"The people have voted. This victory doesn't belong only to Akel, we triumphed together," the new president told a jubilant crowd outside his campaign office.

Whilst many predicted a close fought race, in the end it was a resounding victory for Christofias beating the former Foreign Minister by 53.37% to 46.63%.

There was little of the tension that prevailed during the previous Sunday as it became clear very early on that Kasoulides was all washed up.

Promising a government of wider consensus, Christofias immediately pledged to start work to reunify the island after 34 years of division and occupation.

"I want to applaud my rival (Kasoulides) who phoned to congratulate me and I promised him that we would all work together."

The election was billed as one of the most crucial in the history of Cyprus and much of the foreign press focused on the left-wing credentials of the island's sixth president.

A new day

"Tomorrow is a new day and there will be many difficulties before us, we need to gather our strength to achieve the reunification of our homeland," said Christofias, who will be sworn in later this week.

He has pledged to renew contacts with the Turkish Cypriots in a bid to end the "slide to partition" after negotiations stalled under outgoing President Tassos Papadopoulos.

Christofias's victory makes him the European Union's sole communist head of state and Cyprus the only European country with a communist President apart from ex-Soviet Moldova, more than 16 years after the Soviet Union collapsed.

And some businessmen voiced fears that the economy may not be safe in the hands of someone who uses neo-liberal as an insult.

"I want to see who Christofias is going to appoint as his Finance Minister, if he's pro business, I won't worry," said one entrepreneur who spoke on condition of anonymity,

Kasoulides, a 59-year-old MEP who won the first round a week ago when voters dumped Papadopoulos, conceded defeat shortly before the final results were known.

Christofias was barely 1,000 votes behind Kasoulides in the first round, but yesterday beat him by more than 33,000 votes after winning the endorsement of the Diko-Edek-Green alliance that had backed Papadopoulos.

A defiant Kasoulides made no secret of the fact that he was crushed by a huge machine called party allegiance.

"We started this campaign alone, when nobody gave us a chance but we collided with organised interests and powerful party machines working for their own ends."

Nevertheless, he said the experience had made the forces that back him much stronger which bode well for the future.

"We came very close to the biggest election upset in the history of our country."

Crowds outside the Nicosia headquarters of Christofias's Akel party celebrated victory, waving Cyprus flags emblazoned with the logo "Just society" and shouting "Akel, Akel, Akel" as car horns blared across the world's last divided capital.

There were more celebrations at Nicosia's indoor Eleftheria stadium where hundreds attended to see their leader declared Cyprus's sixth President.

Earlier Christofias went to the headquarters of all the parties that had supported him to give them his thanks.

Reaching out

And his first task will be to reach out to Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat in bid to get peace talks on track.

"At this time I want to send a message of friendship to ordinary Turkish Cypriots, a message of a common fight to reunite our homeland so we are in charge of our own affairs without foreign intervention," Christofias said after casting his vote.

Apparently, Christofias had promised Diko three ministries, including foreign minister, and Edek are likely to get two.

The deal could restrict his freedom of manoeuvre on the Cyprus problem as the two parties take a far less flexible approach than Akel.

More difficult

"I hope he will be the man to solve Cyprus' problems but it will be more difficult now because of the promises he has made to other parties to win their support, " said student George Xinisteris, 21.

Christofias and Kasoulides alike vowed to accelerate negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots, which were deadlocked under Papadopoulos.

All eyes will now be on who the new President will choose in his government.

About half a million Greek Cypriots were eligible to vote, along with some 400 Turkish Cypriots living in the government-controlled south.

The turnout was slightly up on than last Sunday, with 90.84% of the electorate casting a vote.