Former foreign minister holds lead in Cyprus vote, runoff on Feb 12

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides held a lead in Cyprus presidential elections on Sunday, early results showed.

With 27% of the island-wide vote counted, independent candidate Christodoulides was polling 33.1%, while career diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis, backed by left-wing AKEL, was drawing 28% of the vote.

Averof Neophytou, head of the right-wing ruling DISY party, was close behind with 26.3%.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas; editing by Jason Neely)