Cyprus party refuses to back candidate in presidential race
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Leaders of a major Cyprus political party aren't supporting either the incumbent or his left-wing challenger in the runoff of the country's presidential election.
The executive bureau of center-right DIKO said Tuesday that endorsing either President Nicos Anastasiades or independent Stavros Malas would be a reversal of the party's stance on reunification talks with the divided nation's breakaway Turkish Cypriots.
The party's candidate in the election's first round on Sunday advocated a tougher line in the peace talks, saying Anastasiades and Malas would concede too much to the Turkish side.
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The bureau says backing either runoff contender would diminish DIKO's credibility and be "disrespectful" to voters who cast ballots for party leader Nicholas Papadopoulos. He received more than one-quarter of the vote.