DISY chief Nicos Anastasiades cruised to victory in Cyprus' presidential runoff vote, winning 57.48 per cent of the vote, one of the highest in the Republic’s history.

Anastasiades, 66, will take the reins of a country ravaged by its worst economic crisis in four decades, with unemployment at a record high of 15 per cent.

"It is a clear and strong mandate for change, for reform, for our country to exit this vicious circle of crisis," Tasos Mitsopoulos, Anastasiades' spokesman, told reporters.

AKEL-backed Stavros Malas got 42.52 per cent of the vote.

Pay cuts and tax hikes ahead of a bailout have further soured the national mood.

Financial markets were hoping for an Anastasiades victory to speed up a joint rescue by the European Union and International Monetary Fund before the island runs out of cash and derails fragile confidence returning to the eurozone.

Jubilant supporters have taken to the streets waving Greek and Cypriot flags and honking car horns.