The eastern Mediterranean nation's worst economic crisis in four decades eclipsed its almost four-decade-old partition as the main issue in this year's election, which conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades was tipped to win. Polls showed Anastasiades, the most pro-bailout figure among the main presidential contenders, with a 15-point lead over his closest leftist rival, Stavros Malas that might even secure the outright majority needed to avoid a run-off a week later.
Investors are keen to see Anastasiades, 66, a lawyer who has led the Democratic Rally party since 1997, clinch victory and get working on a bailout deal with lenders immediately. He has pledged a quick agreement with the European Union and International Monetary Fund on a rescue, which investors want thrashed out before the island's woes derail progress made in shoring up the rest of the eurozone's periphery.
Leftist rival Stavros Malas has campaigned on a pro-bailout but anti-austerity platform, while independent George Lillikas has rejected onerous terms tied to any bailout, saying Cyprus could swiftly extricate itself by using the natural gas reserves that lie under its shores.
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