Malas rejects selling state-owned companies.
Anastasiades said he would resist outright privatizations, opting instead for selling a minority stake to a strategic investor.
Both candidates have said they would utilize the prospect of the natural gas riches from newfound offshore deposits to jumpstart the economy, but such potential revenue is still years away.
The financial crisis has overtaken the country's ethnic division as the primary campaign issue in some 40 years. Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974, when Turkish invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The latest round of reunification talks between Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu resulted in deadlock.
Turnout in Sunday's vote stood at 83.14 percent of the 545,491 eligible voters.
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Geir Moulson in Berlin and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed.
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