The first opinion poll in the run-up to the Presidential Elections in 2023 indicates former Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides leads by nearly 20 percentage points.
The opinion poll screened Thursday night by Sigma TV is the first opinion poll to be carried out since the main opposition party AKEL endorsed Andreas Mavroyiannis as its candidate.
Some 1014 people participated in the survey. The data was collected from 9 to 16 May, and the statistical error is + /- 3%.
Andreas Mavroyiannis was the last to announce his candidacy, going up against ruling DISY’s head Averof Neophytou and former Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides.
According to the opinion, Christodoulides maintains the lead, with 37% saying they would vote for him.
Second was DISY’s Averof Neophytou, with 19% of people backing his candidacy.
Mavroyiannis appealed to 14% of participants, followed by lawyer Achilleas Demetriades with 8%.
Both Mavroyiannis’ and Demetriades’ candidacies were tabled before AKEL’s politburo, with the left party eventually backing Mavroyiannis.
Despite, Christodoulides’ clear head start, 39% of participants see Averof Neophytou as the country’s next president.
And 30% believe Christodoulides will win the February 2023 presidential election.
But 67% of respondents said their party’s candidate endorsement would not determine their final decision.
According to the survey, Nikos Christodoulides would beat Averof Neophytou and Andreas Mavroyiannis in a second-round face-off.
If Neophytou and Mavroyiannis pass to the second round, the battle seems to be even.
Neophytou received the backing of 38%, just two percentage points more than Mavroyiannis.
According to Sigma, 59% want the next president of the Republic of Cyprus, to be honest, while 28% of respondents want to see a president who is not corrupt.
Nikos Christodoulides is a Former Minister of Foreign Affairs serving under Anastasiades between 2018 and 2022.
Before that, he served as government spokesman between 2013 and 2018. He is still a member of DISY but is running as an independent candidate.
Neophytou is the president of ruling DISY and enjoys the backing of President Anastasiades.
AKEL’s candidate Andreas Mavroyiannis is a former ambassador, also serving as negotiator of the Greek Cypriot side in the Cyprus talks, and former Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the UN.
Also running is Achilleas Demetriades, a well-known human rights lawyer, running a campaign focusing on a solution to the Cyprus problem.
Another candidate in the mix is prominent lawyer Marios Eliades an independent candidate with his campaign targeting corruption within the government and the political system.
There is no lack of lawyers for the presidency in 2023, as George Colocassides, a Former deputy chair of DIKO, is also running.
