Just over an hour after polls closed, political party Edek on Sunday evening announced Nikos Anasstasiou as the new leader of the party.

He had been standing against Diomides Diomidous, the current chief of the party’s Larnaca branch.

Edek needs unity and reconstruction to lead victoriously in the parliamentary elections, Anastasiou had said as he voted at the party offices in Limassol in the morning.

“Today is a new day for Edek,” he added.

“We will move forward tomorrow, united all together, to rebuild the party and go victorious to the next parliamentary elections of 2026,” he continued, adding that he was the right person to unite the party.

Anastasiou took more than 70 per cent of the vote, and even beat Diomidous in his home town of Larnaca.

Three candidates – Morfakis Solomonides, Marios Hannides and Elias Myrianthous – who had initially announced they would stand for the position withdrew their names in favour of Anastasiou last month in an effort to promote party unity.

Anastasiou was head of the party in the Limassol district.

But in a surprise move, Diomidous announced his candidacy as the others were photographing heir agreement.

Diomidous briefly contacted the new party leader after the results were announced, and said he had wished him every success.

“I would like to thank very much and express immense gratitude to those who honoured my proposal for a new course for Edek and me personally with their vote,” he said.

Polls closed at 6pm in eight locations in Cyprus, Greece and the UK. All those registered as members of Edek had the right to vote.

The new president, following the standing down of Marinos Sizopoulos, will lead the party at the parliamentary elections in 2026.

In the latest round of voting on the island, Edek had a dismal showing, garnering just five per cent of the vote in the June 2024 European Parliament elections, losing its single MEP seat.