Cyprus polls point to win for left

Nicosia - The right-wing Democratic Rally Party has narrowed the gap over the favourites Communist AKEL a week before Cyprus'…

Nicosia - The right-wing Democratic Rally Party has narrowed the gap over the favourites Communist AKEL a week before Cyprus's parliamentary elections, according to the latest opinion polls. Voters go to the polls on May 27th to elect a new 56member parliament. Eight parties are fielding about 450 candidates in a poll that could help forge political alliances for the presidential elections of 2003.

A poll commissioned by Mega TV gave AKEL 32.5 per cent of the vote, while another poll, by Antenna television, put AKEL's support at 32.9 per cent. The Rally party, also known as DISY, saw its support climb almost two percentage points to 29.5 per cent in the Mega poll, and to 30 per cent in the Antenna poll.