May 23, 2011 9:53 AM

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Rightist opposition party wins Cyprus parliamentary polls

Final results from Cyprus give the right-wing opposition Democratic Rally party a narrow win in Sunday's Parliamentary elections in the island's Greek Cypriot south. The opposition party finished with 34 per cent of the vote while the ruling far left AKEL took 32.6 percent. Other parties finished far behind the top two. Cypriot President Demetris Christofias said after casting his ballot that democracy would be the winner, telling citizens that they have an obligation to vote. He said it is now time for Cypriots to join hands and discuss their differences in depth. Cyprus is run by a President, so Mr. Christofias will remain head of the country while the Parliament will change. The main issue on Cyprus is the slow-moving talks with the Turkish Cypriot north on reunifying the divided island. Face-to-face talks between Mr. Christofias and his Turkish Cypriot counterparts have made little progress since they began in 2008. Cyprus split between a Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkish troops invaded after a coup aimed at unifying Cyprus with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a separate state in the north.

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