Cypriot Parliament Speaker and General Secretary of the left-wing AKEL party, Demetris Christofias (2nd R), casts his ballot in Nicosia, capital of Cyprus, on February 24, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Cyprus Parliament Speaker and General Secretary of the left-wing AKEL Demetris Christofias won a crucial runoff on Sunday and becomes the island state's new president.

Obtaining 53.36 percent of all the valid votes, Christofias defeated his rival right-wing backed former Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, who has conceded his defeat.

Kasoulides has called Christofias and congratulated him for his victory.

Christofias will be formally declared the new president of Cyprus late Sunday night. But his victory has already sent supporters to the streets of capital Nicosia, waving Cyprus' national flags and portraits of Che Guevara, the Latin American legend.

Christofias and Kasoulides, both more conciliatory towards Turkish Cypriot, had knocked out the incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos, a hard-liner in reunification talks, in the neck-and-neck first round poll on February 17.

Christofias successfully rallied two other parties supporting the outgoing President Papadopoulos behind him in the second round.