Clerides wins second term as Cyprus president
03:37 p.m Feb 15, 1998 Eastern
By Michele Kambas
NICOSIA, Feb 15 (Reuters) - When Glafcos Clerides became president of Cyprus five years ago, he said his priority would be to try to do away with the barbed wire that has sliced the island in two for more than two decades.
He did not manage it in his first term, but at the age of 78 he fought tooth and nail for a second mandate to finish what he started -- by keeping the Cyprus problem firmly in the international spotlight.
His warnings that the problem could be pushed down on the international agenda, should his challenger be elected, helped him to victory.
Sailing home with 50.8 percent of the vote, Clerides won a second five-year term on Sunday, leaving challenger George Iakovou trailing with 49.2 percent.
Now, as Cypriots plunge into a year of intense political bargaining on resolving the Cyprus log-jam, and on the brink of entry talks with the European Union, they want Clerides to make good his promise.
``We have to work, and shall work, all of us, for a just and viable solution to our problem. I think we must all look to the future and not to the past,'' he said in a solemn message to Turkish Cypriots as he cast his vote on Sunday.
They won't have to wait long. In March, international mediators are expected to mount their most forceful initiative yet to re-launch stalled talks on resolving Cyprus' division.
The success of the United Nations-sponsored initiative may depend on whether the Greek Cypriots can coax their reluctant Turkish Cypriot compatriots into joining them to negotiate European Union membership for Cyprus -- itself seen as a stimulus to a settlement.
Seen as a moderate right-winger, Clerides is worshipped by his supporters. For leftists, he is the man they love to hate.
Leftists will never forgive him for harbouring right-wingers in his party who they accuse of involvement in the Greek-led coup that provoked the Turkish invasion of the northern third of the island in 1974.
Ethnic Greeks now live in the south and Turks in the north, with a U.N. peacekeeping force of 1,200 wedged in between.
An affable, sharp-witted politician who loves to tell jokes, Clerides has been a dominant figure in local politics since Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960.
He is widely regarded as the best match for Rauf Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader in the north, who is known as a fierce defender of his community's independence.
Clerides is a staunch supporter of the island's unity under a federal umbrella, supporting demilitarisation and deployment of a multinational force in the event of a solution.
But his administration has forged closer defence ties to Greece, ordered surface-to-air missiles from Russia which Turkey strongly opposes, and built a new western military airbase.
Clerides says he will cancel the missile deal only if enough progress is made on the Cyprus problem in the coming months. The missiles, which are defensive, are due to arrive by October.
``I will never surrender my country smaller than it is,'' Clerides has said on numerous occasions.
Born in Nicosia on April 24, 1919, Clerides was a gunner in the British Royal Air Force when his plane was shot down over Germany in 1942 during a bomber raid on Hamburg.
He was taken prisoner, escaped twice but was recaptured and remained interned until 1945. He takes pride in his military service and never fails to mention it to foreign visitors.
The son of a prominent Nicosia lawyer, Clerides was called to the bar in London in 1951 and returned to Cyprus to take up law and help in the struggle against British colonial rule.
He broke ranks with his father, Ioannis Clerides, who ran against Archbishop Makarios, the island's first president, in 1960. Clerides managed Makarios's election campaign and became the first speaker of parliament after independence.
As speaker, Clerides deputised for Makarios from July to December 1974 while Makarios was exiled abroad after the coup.
His close relations with Makarios cooled when critics accused Clerides of overstepping his authority. He founded the right-wing Democratic Rally party in 1976, leading it from strength to strength. It now has 20 seats in parliament, making it the largest party in the 56-seat chamber.
His wife, Lila-Irene, was born in India and the couple have one
daughter, who is a member of parliament.
First round of Presidential elections show no clear winner.
Cyprus PIO, 9 February 1998
The first round of elections for President of the Republic took
place on Sunday, 8th February, in the government control areas
of Cyprus. No clear winner has emerged, with former foreign Minister
George Iacovou leading by 0.5% the incumbent President Glafcos
Clerides.
The seven candidates had the following results:
George Iacovou 40.61%
Glafcos Clerides 40.06%
Vassos Lyssarides 10.59%
Alexis Galanos 4.04%
George Vassiliou 3.00%
Nicos Koutsou 0.91%
Nicos Rolandis 0.78%.
A run-off election will take place next Sunday, 15.2.98, in which the first two leading contestants will fight it out for a simple majority of the electorate.
The outcome of the election in now going to depend on alliances with the smaller parties.
Following the result of the first round, President Glafcos Clerides repeated his intention to invite all political parties for a government of national unity.
His opponent George Iacovou, who has the support of communist party AKEL and of Mr Kyprianou's Democratic Party (DIKO) will also try to woo the smaller parties.
This is the eighth presidential election since the island's independence in 1960, and the first with such a big number of candidates. It is also the first time the ballot was given to 18-year olds, following a 1997 constitutional amendment. The total number of registered voters is 446, 976.
Commentators envisage a very close-run second round on 15.2.98,
with slightly better odds for president Clerides, due to a wider
base for co- operation with the smaller parties on several issues.