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Cyprus, a small country with just a million people but a big offshore financial industry, still faces a European bank regulator deadline in just two weeks to find €1.8 billion - around a 10th of its GDP - to bail out its second largest lender. But that is just a fraction of the damage that would have been done to Cypriot banks if Samaras had lost to leftist Alexis Tsipras, who threatened to toss out the bailout, and European leaders had responded by cutting off Greece's funding.
Cyprus must still find the €1.8 billion by the end of this month to bail out Cyprus Popular Bank, which saw its balance sheet damaged in March when private-sector lenders wrote off most Greek government debt.
Nicosia has said it is trying to arrange a bilateral loan, possibly from Russia, which lent it €2.5 billion last year. It could also get the funding from the European Financial Stability Fund, the EU's rescue mechanism, but Christofias wants to avoid funds that come with too many fiscal and regulatory conditions attached.