A junior partner in Cyprus's centre-right government said it was poised to quit the coalition in disagreement of a decision to restart peace talks on the ethnically-split island.

A spokeswoman for the Democratic Party said members decided to recommend withdrawal from government. The central committee of the Democratic Party is to meet on February 26 to discuss the proposal. Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu relaunched stalled peace talks on February 11.