Orthodox Church of Cyprus Elections Thrown into Turmoil

The elections to elect a new head for the influential Orthodox Church of Cyprus have been thrown into turmoil this week as allegations of polling irregularities surface.

The current acting head of the Church, Bishop Chrysostomos has reportedly stated he was extremely saddened that some of the ballot boxes were left empty, whilst others had clear evidence that tampering had taken place.

However, even though the elections are publicly known to have been interfered with, Bishop Chrysostomos cancelled out any move to abandon the polls which began on Sunday.

It is believed that more than 500,000 Greek Cypriots are registered with the Church in the region, and all of these members are eligible to vote in the first stage of the elections.

The issue became inflamed after election officials suspended counting twice on Monday after objections from bishops.

Whatever decisions are made for the current voting, a replacement must be found for the current leader, Archbishop Chrysostomos, who has been seriously ill for four years now.

Archbishop Chrysostomos has run the Church for many years, following a Greek-inspired coup in 1974 where he replaced Archbishop Makarios; an event which instigated the Turkish invasion which left the island split in two.

The elections take the following format: Cypriots first vote for 1,400 special representatives, who in turn vote for 100 electors. It is then their job to select the new archbishop in a secret ballot and announce the new Orthodox Church head.