Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias said that he would not seek re-election next year, citing the deadlock in United Nations-mediated talks to reunify the divided island.
“A realistic analysis of the facts leads to the conclusion that there are no real hopes for either resolving the Cyprus issue or achieving substantial progress in the remaining months of my presidency,” he said in a televised address.
In the speech, the president said his decision fulfills an earlier promise not to seek a second term if talks with the authorities in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus were not close to a solution.