The hardline President of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, conceded defeat after the first round of presidential elections last night, raising hopes that international efforts to re-unite the divided island could be back on track.

The surprise election results left two moderates, who both want to resume reunification talks, to contest a run-off vote next Sunday.

The President’s departure could also ease the accession of Turkey to the European Union, according to regional analysts.

Ioannis Kasoulides, a former foreign minister and member of the European parliament who is running as an independent backed by the right-wing Disy party, won 33.5 per cent of the vote.

A whisker behind was Demetris Christofias, the leader of the reformed communist party, Akel, who secured 33.3 per cent. Mr Papadopoulos, who had been marginally ahead in the polls, was eliminated after taking 31.78 per cent of the vote.

“Kasoulides and Christofias are seen as two candidates who represent the chance for a solution. I think there will be a lot of attention now (from the international community) giving one last really good go at re-unification,” James Ker-Lindsay, a Cyprus expert at Kingston University, London, told The Times.

Mr Kasouldies, 59, and Mr Christofias, 62, have pledged to bring new flexibility and commitment to any fresh peace negotiations with the estranged Turkish Cypriot community. Each has said his first move if elected would be to contact Mustafa Talat, the Turkish Cypriot leader, with a view to re-launching peace talks.

Their supporters spilled out onto the streets of Nicosia, the world’s last divided capital, cheering, honking car horns and waving Cypriot and a few Greek flags.

Mr Papadopoulos, 74, had led Greek Cypriots in an overwhelming rejection of a UN reunification proposal four years ago, insisting the settlement, known as the Annan plan, did not meet their basic demands. A week later Cyprus, represented internationally by the Greek Cypriots entered the EU divided, leaving the Turkish Cypriots, who had backed the Annan plan, out in the cold.

Mr Papadopoulos’s rivals had said his tough stance in the aftermath of the plan’s failure had driven the island closer to permanent partition and lost Cyprus friends in Europe.

Mr Papadopoulos had claimed a renewed mandate for him would ensure an improved Cyprus settlement, but he had campaigned mainly on his perceived strength to resist pressure to accept a bad deal, suggesting his rivals would “sell out” the Cyprus Republic.

“These results show perhaps that people didn’t vote ’no’ in 2004 because they hated the (Annan) plan but simply because they felt there was a chance to get some improvements and Papadopoulos hasn’t delivered on that,” Mr Ker-Lindsay told The Times.

The UN is set to despatch a senior envoy to Cyprus next month to assess whether it is worth launching another settlement drive. Tired of its Sisyphean role, it had warned it would not risk another failure unless the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders demonstrated the “necessary political will”.

“The UN and EU will be greatly encouraged that that the winner will now be chosen from two candidates who have committed themselves to be much more pro-active in search of a settlement,” a senior European envoy in Nicosia told The Times.

This year represents a narrow window of opportunity for a settlement because there are no elections pending in other concerned capitals and the EU is due to assess in 2009 Turkey’s bid to join the bloc.

The division of the former British colony is a major obstacle to Turkey’s hopes of joining the EU, with the Greek Cypriots, who represent the island internationally, adamant that Ankara cannot join the bloc without a Cyprus settlement. Cyprus has been split on ethnic lines since Turkey invaded the north in 1974 after a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the junta then ruling Greece.

The EU partially suspended Turkey’s EU accession talks in 2006 over its refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic. The Cyprus problem could also complicate co-operation between the EU and Nato, of which Turkey is a member, and the security arm of the EU, the ESDP.

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