Brussels, 18/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Nicos Anastasiades, leader of the democratic assembly (DISY) party, topped the first round of the presidential elections in Cyprus on Sunday 17 February, winning a comfortable majority of 45.46%, but not enough to win the election so there will be a second round on Sunday in which he will face the communist party candidate, Stavros Malas, who received 24.9% of the vote. In third place came Georges Lillikas, who is sceptical about the strings likely to be attached to the aid plan being negotiated by the country and whose stance will be crucial for the outcome of the election. The European People's Party (EPP) congratulated its candidate, Anastasiades. EPP president Wilfried Martens said he had the qualities of a leader and the credibility to get the country out of the economic crisis. The main task of the winner will be to ensure a successful outcome of the financial aid talks, which have been dragging on since June in part because of the refusal of the present Cypriot president, Demetris Christofias, to consider using privatisation revenue to ensure viability of the country's debt. The country's unhappiness about the demand that a private company assess its track record in tackling money laundering has not helped matters. Anastasiades says that the new assessment should be done by a European or international body rather than a private company. German magazine Das Bild says that the troika of lenders (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) are currently examining the impact of the country's banks going under. Greece would be one of the main victims of a Cypriot default. (EL/transl.fl)