Nicos Anastasiades, the leader of the conservative Democratic Rally Party (DISY), was ahead with 51.1 per cent in Cyprus' presidential elections, an initial exit poll on Sunday showed.
The polls placed the 66-year-old well ahead of his main rival, former health minister Stavros Malas, who is backed by the current ruling communist AKEL party. He earned an average of 27.3 per cent, according to the poll by state broadcaster RIK.
If Anastasiades is confirmed as having an outright majority of over 50 per cent, a runoff election next weekend will not take place.
The exit poll, with a margin of error of 1.5 per cent, showed former foreign minister Giorgos Lilikas, who is supported by the small socialist party EDEK, coming in with 18 per cent.
The vote comes before a decision next month by the eurozone on whether to grant Cyprus a multi-billion euro bailout to keep it solvent. The bailout is also meant to rescue banks, which have taken
enormous losses on bad Greek debt investments.
The victor will have to negotiate a bailout of up to 17.5 billion euros (23.3 billion dollars) with international creditors to ease Cyprus's financial crisis.
Previous elections were dominated by peace talks to unify the island, which is divided between the Greek south and Turkish north.