Cyprus President Looking for Re-election

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos officially announced on Monday that he will seek a second five-year term in next February's elections.

In a televised speech, the incumbent president said he is running for reelection in order to continue striving for a settlement of the Cyprus problem.

Referring to the Annan plan, which he called on Greek Cypriots to reject in April 2004, Papadopoulos claimed that he just tried to make this blueprint for a reunited island as balanced as possible and acceptable for both communities.

He said that Cyprus managed to reverse the negativity in the EUand internationally after the rejection of the Annan plan, which was approved by the Turkish Cypriot community, and furthermore linked Turkey's EU course with the obligation to normalize its relations with the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus.

According to an recent opinion poll by local paper Phileleftheros, Papadopoulos is neck and neck with his two main competitors, left-wing AKEL's Demetris Christofias and opposition DISY's Ioannis Kasoulides.

Akel has decided to put forward its own chief Christofias as candidate for the presidential elections and withdrew from the three-party coalition which supported Papadopoulos in the 2003 elections.

Christofias, also the parliament speaker, has been at odds with President Papadopoulos on how to resolve the Cyprus issue. He has indicated that the Greek Cypriot side should follow a more "flexible policy" and show their "political will for a solution of the problem."

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey militarily intervened and occupied the north of the island following a coup by a group of Greek Cypriot officers, who pushed for union with Greece.

The United Nations and the European Union have so far failed to persuade the two communities on the island for a compromised solution to the decades long split.