Facts about Cypriot independent Ioannis Kassoulides

Following are some key facts about Kassoulides:

- Kassoulides is running as an independent. His primary backers are the right-wing Democratic Rally party.

- He served in the right-wing administration of former President Glafcos Clerides as government spokesman, and later as foreign minister when Cyprus was negotiating membership to the EU.

- He was elected to the European Parliament in 2004.

- He says he will be more proactive than his challengers in seeking to end Cyprus's division along ethnic lines since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup.

- He was born Aug. 10, 1948. Kassoulides studied medicine in France and specialized in geriatrics in London. Married, he has a daughter.