Friday, February 2/2018

Sunday will see the run-off, stage two of the presidential election, which is a separate event, with all Cypriots having a direct vote. In the run-off only the top two candidates remain, in this case the current president, Anistasiades, and Malas, the independent but Communist backed challenger. No pretence of separation of church and state here. The Archbishop of Cyprus has already announced that Malas will lose, presumably simple prediction and not the gift of prophecy. It's not surprising that the archbishop wants Malas to lose (interesting, though, that one would predict the loser rather than the winner) as he does have some skin in the game. Malas has said that the practice of the government consulting the church on the appointment of the minister of education should cease. It's by no means the only way in which the church influences the state in Cyprus, but probably one of the most formalised. As well as being one of the most powerful agents keeping Greek and Turkish Cyprus apart.