Cypriots vote in runoff presidential election

NICOSIA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cypriots started voting on Sunday in the runoff presidential election, a replica of the runoff five years ago in which center-right candidate Nicos Anastasiades beat leftist Stavros Malas with a comfortable margin.

Supported by center-right party Democratic Rally, Anastasiades is seeking a second term. Polls show 35.51 percent of the vote in the first round for Anastasiades compared to 30.24 percent for Malas, who is supported by the left-wing AKEL opposition party.

The electoral service said that after four hours of voting, 10.9 percent of voters have cast ballot papers, a little higher than the 10.5 percent in the first round, but lower by just over 1 percent compared to the 2013 runoff. Enditem