Christodoulides maintains lead in presidential race, gap tightens between Neophytou and Mavroyiannis: Alpha poll

The latest poll for the 2023 presidential elections shows Nicos Christodoulides has a clear lead ahead of the other contenders, with Disy’s Averof Neophytou and Akel-backed Andreas Mavroyiannis neck and neck.

The survey, carried out by RAI for Alpha TV channel and published on Tuesday, interviewed 1004 adults between November 14 – 18.

In the first round, Christodoulides, who is running as an independent candidate, appears to gather 34 per cent of the votes, followed by Neophytou with 16.6 per cent and Mavroyiannis at a close 16.5 per cent.

The figures mark a one per cent decrease for Christodoulides since October’s numbers, a 1.8 per cent boost for Neophytou and a 2.1 per cent increase for Mavroyiannis.

Should Neophytou and Mavroyiannis face off in the final round, the latter appears to win with an almost 10 per cent lead. The poll reveals Mavroyiannis would garner 40.6 per cent of votes while Neophytou would gather 30.8 per cent.

In the scenario where Neophytou and Christodoulides make it to the second round, the latter holds a clear lead with 52.6 per cent of votes, versus Neophytou’s 24.2 per cent. Christodoulides is also seen as a clear winner if he fights it off with Mavroyiannis, obtaining 55 per cent of the vote, compared to Mavroyiannis’ 28 per cent, the poll revealed.

According to the survey, 80 per cent of respondents said they would certainly go and vote, 13 per cent would probably vote, four per cent probably would not and three per cent said they would not vote.

Last week, the election service said registration for voting was 10 times lower than it had been this time in the previous election. Specifically, between October 3 to November 15, there were 1,882 applications to register to vote. For the same period in 2018, the figure was around 10 times higher with 10,400 registrations.

Members of the public have until December 27 to register.

The state budget for the upcoming presidential elections amounts to €7 million. The submission for each candidacy is €2,000.