Cyprus holds close run-off election to choose a new president

Polling stations close at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) in the race to succeed two-term conservative President Nicos Anastasiades as head of state and government of the small EU member country.

Former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides, 49, faces 66-year-old fellow diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis after last Sunday's inconclusive first round.

Christodoulides, who defected from the conservative ruling DISY party to run as an independent, scored 32.04 percent a week ago, against 29.59 percent for Mavroyiannis, who is also running as an independent and is backed by the communist AKEL party.

The former top diplomat Christodoulides voiced confidence when he told reporters: "The Cypriot people know and understand what is at stake... I have complete confidence in their judgement."

Mavroyiannis meanwhile revived his campaign slogan, saying: "It is time to turn the page for a new, united, European Cyprus ... We will be winners, and Cyprus will be victorious with us."

Top concerns for many voters are the cost of living crisis, irregular immigration and the island's almost half-century of division between the Greek-speaking south and a Turkish-occupied breakaway statelet in the north recognised only by Ankara.

But many disaffected voters will simply opt for "the least worse candidate -- a characteristic in most elections, but more so in this one," said Andreas Theophanous of think tank the Cyprus Center for European and International Affairs.

The winner needs 50 percent plus one vote to succeed Anastasiades as the republic's eighth president, with the official final result expected by 1900 GMT.

Turnout at noon had reached 35.4 percent of registered voters, slightly up on the rate at that time in the first round.

The outgoing president urged Cypriots to come out "en masse to participate in this electoral process", adding that "this is our duty. The people decide, the majority decides and the minority respects."