Former Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides is in first place in the presidential election in Cyprus, which took place on Sunday, Reuters reports, clarifying that these are preliminary results, writes News.ro.

With 27 percent of the total votes counted, independent candidate Christodolides has 33.1 percent, while Andreas Mavroyannis, a career diplomat backed by left-wing AKEL, has 28 percent.

Averof Neofitu, leader of the ruling right-wing DISY party, has 26.3 percent.

More than 560,000 Greek Cypriot voters are expected to take part in the polls on Sunday. Polls have shown that no candidate will be able to win an absolute majority.

Cyprus, a member of the European Union since 2004, has been divided since Turkey seized part of the northern part of the island in 1974 in response to a coup by Greek Cypriot nationalists who wanted to annex the country to Greece.

The Greek Cypriot government exercises authority only over the southern part of the island, separated by a UN-controlled demilitarized zone called the Green Line, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and recognized only by Turkey, where Turkish Cypriots live.