By Michele Kambas
NICOSIA (Reuters) - Communist party leader DemetrisChristofias was marginally ahead in exit polls after Cypruselections on Sunday but it was unclear who he would becompeting against in a run-off on Feb 24.
President Tassos Papadopoulos and Ioannis Kassoulides weretying in second place, according to a poll by the Pulse pollingcompany for the state Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
Final official results in an elections seen as key forefforts to re-unite the Mediterranean island and Turkey'sEuropean Union aspirations are expected by 1830 GMT (6:30 p.m.British time).
"We are looking at an election thriller," said NicosAnastassiades, head of the party backing Kassoulides.
The poll gave Chrisofias a marginal lead over his twochallengers, with between 32 to 35 percent of the vote.Papadopoulos and Kassoulides tied at between 31 and 34 percent.
Other exit polls gave an equally confusing picture, withthe margin of difference between the candidates within themargin of error.
Polls had predicted the race was too close to call. Somepolls conducted in the run-up to the election had suggestedthat Christofias could beat Papadopoulos in a run-off, eventhough that gap had narrowed by early February.
Papadopoulos led the Greek Cypriot rejection of a U.N.reunification blueprint in 2004, and critics charge he has madeno real attempt to break the deadlock since then. Christofiashad then backed Papadopoulos in rejecting the plan, but itlater emerged there were key disagreements on tactics.
Mediators plan one last crack this year at mending fencesbetween Greek and Turkish Cypriots, living on opposing sides ofa U.N. ceasefire line bisecting the island for decades.
Stalled efforts to reconcile the two sides are hamperingTurkey's chances of joining the European Union. A GreekCypriot-led Cyprus represents the island in the bloc, with vetorights over the admission of Turkey.
The EU partially suspended Turkey's EU accession talks in2006 over its refusal to open its ports and airports to GreekCypriot traffic.
(Editing by Richard Williams)
