Preliminary indicators show that Anba Raphail, Bishop-General of Downtown Cairo; Anba Tawodros, Bishop-General of Beheira; and the monk Father Raphail Ava Mina are ahead in the vote count for the papal elections
Preliminary indicators show that Anba Raphail, Bishop-General of Downtown Cairo; Anba Tawodros, Bishop-General of Beheira; and the monk Father Raphail Ava Mina are ahead in the vote count for the papal elections
At 5:00pm the polls at Anba Rweiss’s closed for the vote count to begin. The papal elections committee declared a press conference would be held once the vote count was over, to announce the results. The three names among the five candidates for the papacy who score the highest vote counts will be placed in an altar draw next Sunday to determine who the 118th patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church will be.
Participating in the vote count are the six members of the elections committee, six judges, and a representative of the Interior Ministry.
A total 85 bishops from among the 89 who are members of the Holy Synod cast their votes. Those who did not show up were Anba Serapion of Los Angeles; Anba Boulos of Africa; Anba Pavnotius of Samalout, and Anba Mikhail of Assiut. The last to cast his ballot minutes before the deadline was Bishop-General Anba Ermiya who came from Mar-Mina monastery south of Alexandria.
Earlier during the morning Anba Bishoi of Damietta cast his ballot, while Bishop-General Anba Yu’annis had cast his during the first minutes since the polls opened. Both had been strong candidates for the papacy, but had missed being short-listed by the elections committee for the vote.
Anba Yu’annis told Watani that we today pray that the Lord should choose a patriarch who would care for the Church with compassion righteousness. “We are in a phase where the Coptic Church is in need of spiritual and administrative effort, especially given the upheavals that have been taking place in Egypt,” he said.
Anba Bishoi, for his part, said that it is obvious to all today that God is extending His care over His Church, and intervening to choose a good shepherd for his congregation.
Only one out of the 34-member Melli (Community) Council of the laity did not show up.
In its entirety, the polling went through lucidly and peacefully. The majority of voters were happy with the manner in which the polling was run; all who were approached by Watani described the polling procedure as a showcase of efficiency and thoughtfulness.
Rights NGOs that monitored the elections have commended the polling. Emad Haggab of A New World for Monitoring Elections told Watani that no violations had been detected during the polling: the voters reached the ballot boxes easily and cast their votes in absolute freedom. No pressure whatsoever was exerted on the voters by any party to favour any candidate.
Director of the National Human Rights Centre Maged Adeeb told Watani that, until 4:30pm the voter turnout was 90 per cent—a total 2177 from among the 2412 eligible voters cast their polls—and that the centre’s monitors had detected no violations in the polling procedure.
The polling had been televised live by State TV channels, Mr Adeeb said, as well as by Christian channels, and various independent and international channels.
Reported by Nader Shukry, Mariam Rifaat, Michael Victor, and Angele Reda
Watani International
29 October 2012