During his pre-election speeches, Greek Cypriot President Anastasiades had pledged to have a chief negotiator other than himself to deal with the Cyprus problem. He did this at the time to limit the damage that his support of the rejected Annan plan in 2004 could inflict on his political ambitions.
Yesterday the National Council elected Andreas Mavroyiannis to the new role. Mavroyiannis, 57, is a very experienced politician and his election was widely tipped and overwhelmingly supported.
His role will initially be restricted to procedural matters and his full negotiation responsibilities will be determined at future National Council meetings.
Whilst all former negotiations have taken place between the two respective presidents, this appointment means that the TRNC President will in future not deal with President Anastasiades directly.
