NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriot president-elect Nicos Anastasiades, armed with a clear mandate from voters to protect the island from insolvency, said on Monday he was committed to reforms in return for a bailout.

The Conservative Anastasiades won decisive backing in a presidential election on Sunday for an aggressive approach to resolving the island’s worst financial crisis in four decades.

BRUSSELS/NICOSIA, Feb 25 (Reuters) – European policymakers
are split over how to handle a bailout of Cyprus, with Germany
and some other countries pushing for bank depositors to bear
part of the cost and many other member states worried such a
move will cause a bank run.

Euro zone officials say momentum has built in recent days
behind the idea of “bailing-in” Cypriot bank shareholders and
depositors, although the specifics of how such an operation
would be carried out have not been pinned down.

NICOSIA, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Cypriot president-elect Nicos
Anastasiades faces weeks of difficult talks with foreign lenders
on a financial rescue for the island nation after sweeping to a
resounding victory in a run-off election on Sunday.

Eight months of inconclusive talks on a bailout package have
turned tiny Cyprus into a big headache for the euro zone,
triggering fears of a financial collapse that reignites the
bloc’s debt crisis.

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Conservative chief Nicos Anastasiades’s victory in Cyprus’s presidential elections on Sunday marks a stunning comeback for a politician whose career was almost destroyed by a political gamble in 2004.

A sharp and rousing public speaker who pulls no punches, Anastasiades, 66, comfortably beat his leftist rival Stavros Malas by taking 57.5 percent in the run-off vote.

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriots vote in a runoff on Sunday to elect a president who must clinch a bailout deal so the island nation can avoid a financial meltdown that would revive the euro zone crisis.

Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades, who favors hammering out a quick deal with foreign lenders, is favored to win against Communist-backed rival Stavros Malas, who is more wary of the austerity terms accompanying any rescue.

NICOSIA, Feb 22 (Reuters) – The European Commission on
Friday slashed its economic outlook for cash-starved Cyprus,
doubling its recession forecast for the tiny Mediterranean
nation in desperate need of a financial bailout.

The island will see its 17.9 billion euro economy contract
by 3.5 percent this year, the Commission said in its winter
economic forecast. The previous autumn forecast released in
November had output contracting by 1.7 percent in 2013.

NICOSIA, Feb 21 (Reuters) – The frontrunner in Cyprus’s
presidential election runoff said on Thursday he has been in
touch with governments and unspecified funds for a bridge loan
to ensure the island nation does not run out of cash before it
secures an international bailout.

Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades, who polled over 45
percent in last Sunday’s first voting round and is the favourite
to win the Feb. 24 runoff, told Reuters various parties,
including “governments and funds” which he did not identify, had
been “sounded out” for a short-term loan.

NICOSIA, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Cypriot political leaders begin
a week of bargaining on Monday after the first round of a
presidential election failed to produce an outright winner to
steer the island nation through its worst financial crisis in
four decades.

Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades, who backs a swift
deal with EU and IMF lenders on a bailout to avert a Cypriot
bankruptcy, won Sunday’s vote but fell short of the absolute
majority needed to avoid a run-off on Feb 24. He faces
Communist-backed Stavros Malas in that round.

NICOSIA, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Conservative leader Nicos
Anastasiades easily won the first round in Cyprus’s presidential
elections but failed to avoid a runoff vote, reflecting deep
divisions among Cypriots on a bailout deal to save the island
nation from bankruptcy.

A financial crash in Cyprus could reignite the euro zone
debt crisis and investors are keen to see Anastasiades, the
strongest advocate of an international rescue, clinch victory
and secure a bailout, even though that too, has its drawbacks.

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Conservative chief Nicos Anastasiades’s first round victory in Cyprus’s presidential elections on Sunday marks a stunning comeback for a veteran politician whose career was almost destroyed by a political gamble in 2004.

A sharp and rousing public speaker who pulls no punches, Anastasiades, 66, faces a runoff vote next week against leftist rival Stavros Malas.