Nikos Christodoulides elected Cyprus’s youngest president with 52% of vote

Former foreign minister, who ran as independent, was backed by groups hostile to talks on island’s reunification

Nikos Christodoulides, a former foreign minister, has been elected the eighth president of Cyprus, beating the career diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis in a high-stakes, closely fought race.

Christodoulides, who at 49 becomes the island republic’s youngest leader, won 51.92 per cent of the vote compared with 48.09 per cent for his opponent, who had been backed by the leftist party AKEL. A mere 15,041 ballots had divided the loser from the winner.