Greek Cypriots have re-elected Nicos Anastasiades as their eighth president in what is seen as a ringing endorsement of his stable leadership over the past five years.

The 71-year-old conservative won a second five-year term on Sunday with 56% of the vote. His opponent, the leftist-backed independent Stavros Malas, took 44%.

There were scenes of jubilation in Nicosia as news of the incumbent’s 12-point lead reached the campaign headquarters of Anastasiades’ Democratic Rally party (Dysi). Supporters poured on to the streets holding Cypriot, Greek and party flags, chanting slogans and honking horns. “Victory is a beautiful thing,” said Christos Papamichael, a Dysi activist.

Anastasiades, who has vowed to reactivate peace talks aimed at reunifying Cyprus, had long been the frontrunner of a lacklustre electoral campaign marked by voter abstention.

But suspense had hovered over Sunday’s runoff after an inconclusive first round that saw Malas gain an unexpected 30.2% of the vote. The strong performance had sparked enthusiasm that the 50-year-old geneticist, who was running with the backing of the Progressive Party of Working People, Akel, could defy polls and score a spectacular upset.

In the end the electorate, putting financial considerations first, went for Antastasiades, who has been widely credited with navigating Cyprus’ extraordinary economic recovery since he took over the country, amid scenes of chaos, in 2013.

His victory on Sunday amounted to vindication of policies that, far from popular, had put the island back on a sustainable path after the collapse of its banking system and a €10bn EU–IMF-sponsored bailout. At nearly 4%, Cyprus had the eurozone’s highest growth rate in 2017.

“On the economy he has done very, very, very, well,” said Giorgos Skoufaris, a pensioner, flicking a set of worry beads after casting his ballot. “So why not give him our vote, especially when he has said this will be his last term?”

The banking crisis, blamed squarely on the ineptitude of the then Akel government, had been the most traumatic event to befall Cyprus since the Turkish invasion. In an unprecedented step, depositors were forced to foot the bill of the EU rescue programme with savings over €100,000 automatically slashed from bank accounts. Anastasiades’ deft handling of the crisis could now give him the space to focus on finally healing the Mediterranean island’s division.

Ankara ordered a full-scale military invasion of the island in 1974 and seized the island’s northern third after a coup aimed at securing the annexation of the island by Greece. Repeated efforts at conciliation since have been unsuccessful, although negotiations are believed to have come close to reunifying the two communities before collapsing acrimoniously in Switzerland last July.

“There will now be continuity, which is a positive thing, for the economy, for the prospect of a solution and for the EU’s role in the eastern Mediterranean,” said Cleopatra Kitti, an international consultant based in Nicosia who advises corporations and governments. “Partition is unsustainable. I think Anastasiades is smart enough to realise that there needs to be a deal, that this cannot go on, that without it there is bound to be some kind of conflict.”

Anastasiades has repeatedly said he wants reunification despite upsetting pro-solution Cypriots when the UN-mediated talks broke down and he left the negotiating table last summer. “The status quo is unacceptable and its prolongation will have negative consequences for the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots,” the lobby group Unite Cyprus Now said in a statement congratulating the president. “Let us not hold our bright future hostage to our troubled past.” </s> Incumbent Nicos Anastasiades has defeated challenger Stavros Malas by a significant margin in Cyprus’ presidential election.

State-run broadcaster RIK said Mr Malas telephoned Mr Anastasiades about an hour after polls closed to concede defeat.

With nearly all votes from Sunday’s run-off election counted, Mr Anastasiades had a 12-point lead over Mr Malas.

It is the second time in a row that Mr Anastasiades, a conservative veteran politician, has defeated left-leaning Mr Malas in a head-to-head race for president.

Mr Anastasiades’ supporters in the capital Nicosia celebrated by honking car horns. </s> Incumbent Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades defeated leftist challenger Stavros Malas and won another five-year term in a run-off election on Sunday.

The 71-year-old conservative won 55.9 percent of the vote with 95 percent of votes counted. Malas conceded an hour after the polls closed, Reuters reported. Malas, a 50-year-old geneticist who served as the republic's health minister in the former left-wing administration, had also come ran against Anastasiades in 2013.

But the suspense was tight. The office of the president of Cyprus is elected using a two-round voting system, and a first round saw Anastasiades win an inconclusive 34 percent of the vote and Malas win an unexpected 29 percent percent of the vote.

With all second round votes counted, Anastasiades won 56 percent of the vote against Malas' 44 percent.

The island in the Mediterranean has been divided since 1974, when "Turkish troops invaded following a Greek-backed coup," as NPR's Michele Kelemen has reported. The Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities are separated by a U.N. buffer zone, and "many attempts to reunite the island have failed."

The vote took place barely seven months after the latest round of peace talks ended abruptly.

Anastasiades steered the Cyprus' economy to recovery after a 2013 financial crisis, and has pledged to seek the resumption of U.N.-mediated peace talks.

"A new era begins tomorrow," Anastasiades told supporters outside of his election campaign headquarters, reported Al Jazeera. "People demand cooperation and unity because this is the only way to solve the problems we're facing." </s> Incumbent Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades was the top finisher on Sunday’s first round of presidential elections, but failed to garner a majority of votes needed to avoid a runoff.

The conservative leader will face Stavros Malas, an independent candidate backed by Communist party AKEL, in a runoff on Feb. 4. Mr. Anastasiades was leading all the opinion polls in the run-up to the vote. He said that this second 5-year term in office would be his last if he is re-elected.
Incumbent Nicos Anastasiades is declared the winner.