After the second and last round of voting on Sunday, Nikos Christodoulides was declared the victor, promising a unity government entrusted with resuming peace negotiations with the estranged Turkish Cypriots.

US News reported that according to official figures, Christodoulides, 49, received 51.9% of the vote, while Andreas Mavroyiannis, 66, received 48.1%. At 1800 GMT, the winner will be formally announced.

In the vote on Sunday, career diplomat Mavroyiannis, a former senior negotiator in the peace negotiations with Turkish Cypriots, faced off against former foreign minister Christodoulides, who served as Cyprus' permanent representative to the UN.

With the support of right- and center-center parties, Christodoulides ran as an independent candidate.