Cyprus elects new parliament ahead of key UN talks

May 21, 2011

NICOSIA — Greek Cypriots went to the polls for parliamentary elections on Sunday ahead of key talks with UN chief Ban Ki-moon on ending the island's 37-year division.

Polls opened at 0400 GMT and were due to close at 1530 GMT. Results were expected by 2000 GMT.

The Mediterranean island has a strongly presidential constitution and has no prime minister.

The polls were seen rather as a test of public opinion on the governing coalition led by communist-backed President Demetris Christofias and his policy on reunification talks with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.

Christofias is to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in Geneva on July 7 for talks hosted by Ban that had originally been scheduled for April.

The UN chief had postponed them, expressing frustration with the lack of progress in UN-backed negotiations between the rival leaders.

The holiday island has also been hit by the financial crisis sweeping the world since 2008, with ratings agencies repeatedly downgrading their prospects for its economy in the face of a deficit the government is still struggling to control and a large banking sector heavily exposed to indebted Greece.

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