Diko-Akel duel for second place in elections

The fight to finish second in the presidential elections, in a fortnight’s time, which will lead to a place in the run-off, remains too close to call according to the latest opinion polls.

President Anastasiades seems a certainty to take the most votes, having a comfortable lead in all polls. The picture about who would be the runner-up remains unclear, however, with Diko leader Nikolas Papadopoulos and Akel-backed independent candidate Stavros Malas close according the polls.

The poll carried out by Noverna for Politis and published on Sunday, gave Anastasiades 32 per cent while it showed Malas with 18.6 per cent four percentage points ahead of Papadopoulos. The results were very similar to those of a poll carried out by the same company in December.

The leader of extreme right Elam Christos Christou saw his share increase since December from 3.3 to 5.7 per cent, while the Citiens’ Alliance candidate Giorgos Lillikas saw his share decline from 2.1 per cent in December to 1.2 per cent.

A poll by Symmetron Reasearch carried out for Kathimeirni showed Anastasiades winning the first round with 34.4 per cent but has Papadopoulos in second place, with 22.6per cent, 1.4 percentage points more than Malas.

Papadopoulos was also forecasted to finish second, in a poll carried out for TVOne but by a tiny margin 0.4 percentage points.

All three polls found that Anastasiades would be the winner of the run off irrespective of who of the other two candidates makes it through.

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