Nicosia, Cyprus - The process to elect a leader for the powerful Orthodox Church on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus was met with disorder on Monday after many of the ballot boxes were clearly tampered with or arrived late for counting, news reports said. About half of the Greek Cypriot population went to the polls Sunday as part of a process to elect their next archbishop, after incumbent Chrysostomos was declared unfit following a stroke two years ago.
Just over 50 per cent of the registered members of the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church of Cyprus cast their votes to elect 1,400 representatives who will choose 100 electors and together with the island's clergy will elect the new archbishop.
Four candidates are challenging the throne, with Bishop Nikiphoros of the wealthy Kykkos Monastery supported by leading political parties.
Election officials on the divided island of Cyprus have suspended counting twice, citing irregularities with ballot boxes and have said that it was unclear when the final result would be known.
Chrysostomos' main rival is Bishop Athanassios of Limassol, while the other two are the Acting Archbishop, Bishop Chrysostomos of Paphos and Bishop Chrysostomos of Larnaca.
The voting Sunday was for 1,400 special representatives — including laymen. The representatives will vote for 100 electors 22 days later.
These electors will then be joined by 33 clerics voting directly for the archbishop in separate ballots.
Cyprus' Orthodox Church is an independent branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church and one of the oldest in the world. It owns large amounts of real estate on the island, including hotels, banks and factories.