Former Cypriot Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulidis is leading in the Cypriot presidential election on Sunday, an exit poll showed, but is unlikely to win an outright majority and will advance to the second round on Feb. 12, Reuters reported.

Christodoulidis, who ran as an independent candidate, won between 30.5 percent and 33.5 percent of the vote. Averof Neophytou, leader of the ruling conservative DISY party, and independent candidate Andreas Mavroyiannis, backed by leftist forces, won between 26.5 percent and 29.5 percent of the vote, a state television company exit poll showed, based on a count of 76 percent of respondents.

Earlier opinion polls also showed that none of the three candidates would garner more than half of the votes, an obstacle to an unconditional victory in the first round.