The election procedure for the selection of the new Primate of the Church of Cyprus, after the passing of Archbishop Chrysostomos in November, takes place Sunday.
The whole process is carried out in two stages, according to the Charter of the Cyprus church.
Today the voters will cast their ballot among the 6 candidates and the first 3 who secure the majority of the votes form the so called triumvirate. Following today’s procedure, the Holy Synod will meet, during the second stage, to decide on the new Archbishop.
The 6 candidates are the Bishop Georgios of Paphos, Bishop Chrysostomos of Kyrenia, Bishop Athanasios of Limassol, Bishop Neophytos of Morphou, Bishop Vasilios of Constantia and Ammochostos and Bishop Isaias of Tamasos and Orinis.
The voters can learn where they must cast their vote by visiting Church of Cyprus’ website at https://churchofcyprus.org.cy (link “Learn where you are voting”).
Voting begins at 10am local time and ends at 6pm with a break between 1-2pm and people must show either their ID or their voter book.
There will be 942 polling stations across the island.
When the electoral process ends today, a period of 3 days is given for objections. When this period is over the Holy Synod is given another 5 days to study these objections, to ratify the result and establish the triumvirate.
Afterward, within 3 days, the Holy Synod will choose the Archbishop from among the triumvirate.
The elections will be overseen by a large number of Police members to secure that everything goes smoothly.
Source: Cyprus News Agency