1959 Cypriot presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Cyprus for the first time on 13 December 1959.^[1] Only two candidates contested the election; Makarios III, who was backed by EOKA, and Ioannis Clerides, a member of the Democratic Union who was also supported by AKEL.^[2][3] The result was a victory for Makarios III, who received 67% of the vote, although he did not take office until 16 August 1960.^[4] Voter turnout was 91.2%.^[3]

1959 Cypriot presidential election

13 December 1959 1968 →

Candidate Makarios III Ioannis Clerides Popular vote 114,501 71,753 Percentage 66.82% 33.18%

Elected President Makarios III

A separate election for Vice President of Cyprus took place. Fazıl Küçük was the only candidate, and was elected unopposed.^[2]

Electoral system

The elections were held using a two-round system; if no candidate received over 50% of the vote in the first round, a second round was to be held between the top two candidates. The constitution required the President of Cyprus to be a Greek Cypriot and the Vice-President to be a Turkish Cypriot. Greek Cypriots elected the President and Turkish Cypriots elected the Vice-President.^[5]

Results

Candidate	Votes	%
Makarios III	144,501	66.82
Ioannis Clerides	71,753	33.18
Total	216,254	100.00
Valid votes	216,254	99.22
Invalid/blank votes	1,702	0.78
Total votes	217,956	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	238,879	91.24
Source: Nohlen & Stöver