Brussels, 17/02/2003 (Agence Europe) -Leader of the Opposition, Tassos Papadopoulos, won the presidential elections in the Republic of Cyprus on Sunday, with 51.5% of the vote in the first round and will now replace the historic leader, Glafcos Clerides. Tassos Papadopoulos, Head of the Christian Democrat party will take over ten days before the deadline set by the Secretary General of the United nations for the two dies in Cyprus to accept his peace and re-unification plan for the island. On Sunday evening, he expressed his wish, in several declarations, to get rid of the image of seeking to oppose the peace agreements, with which some of his detractors accuse him. "I am ready to begin negotiations and hope that the UN Secretary General will succeed in breaking this impasse. I am determined to find a solution and I will try everything to get Cyprus unified and integrated into the European Union by May 2004".
The Presidents of the European Parliament and the European Commission congratulated the new Cypriot President. Pat Cox wished him every success in confronting the immense challenges that would confront him. Romano Prodi stressed that Mr Papadopoulos knew Europe well, having been president of the Committee for European Affairs at the Chamber of Permanent Representatives and affirmed that, "I am expecting your election to lead to a solution to the Cyprus problem based on the global regulation proposed by the United Nations".