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Cyprus Presidential Election Odds: Sitting President out of race as Kasoulides surges ahead

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It may not be the most obvious political market to bet on this week, but it's active and it's swinging. Mike Robb takes a quick look at what's going on...

When you think of the most exciting markets on Betfair, or even the most exciting political markets on Betfair, the Cypriot Presidential elections may not come high up your list. But the market has three runners out of three that have all traded odds-on to win the race. The hot favourite incumbent, Tassos Papadopoulos - who was the figurehead leader in the rejection of the 2004 UN Cyprus reunification plan - is out, having lost in the first round of voting last Sunday, and so his price of [170.0] is justified.

In the first round of voting the current favourite Ioannis Kasoulides [1.46] beat Dimitris Christofias [2.5] by a tiny 0.18 percent, yet finds himself well behind on the Betfair market. Both of these runners have traded odds-on at one point in the race, and with just days to go things are really heating up...

You would think the market would be fairly empty, but it's surprisingly active for what is such an obscure or niche area. More than 115,000 GBP has been traded so far and with round two coming up this coming Sunday (24th Feb) maybe we should forget about Clinton, Obama and Co. and avert our eyes back to the highlight of European politics this month. Cyprus: you have our attention.

Cyprus facts:

Population: 780,000 (2005)

Languages spoken: Greek, Turkish, and English

Religious demographics: 78% Greek Orthodox, 18% Muslim, 4% other

Life expectancy: 77.65 years

Currency: Euro

Interesting fact: In 2004 Ireland issued a stamp with a map of the EU on it to celebrate the Union's enlargement, but put Cyprus in the wrong place. What appears to be Crete is in fact Cyprus.

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