President Makarios, seeking a fresh mandate from…

President Makarios, seeking a fresh mandate from his constituency, announces in January 1968 that elections will be held during February.

Kiicuk, determined to adhere to the constitution, now announces that elections for vice president will also be held.

Elections, which the Greek Cypriot government considers invalid, are subsequently held in the Turkish Cypriot community; Kiicuk is returned to office unopposed

Two weeks later, Makarios receives 220,911 votes (about ninety-six percent), and his opponent, Takis Evdokas, running on a straight enosis platform, receives 8,577 votes.

Even though there are 16,215 abstentions, Makarios's overwhelming victory is seen as a massive endorse-ment of his personal leadership and of an independent Cyprus.

At his investiture, the president states that the Cyprus problem cannot be solved by force, but has to be worked out within the framework of the UN.

He also says that he and his followers want to live peacefully in a unitary state where all citizens enjoy equal rights.

Some Cypriots oppose Makarios's conciliatory stance, and there will be an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him in 1970.