Coptic Papal Elections Moving in full swing

John Anton
Cairo
Special Correspondent
OCP News Service
29/10/2012

Cairo: Some 2412 Coptic voters are today casting their ballots in the grounds of St Mark’s cathedral at Anba Rweiss in Abassiya, Cairo.

Apart from Cairo, voters hail from all the other parishes throughout Egypt. In many parishes, parishioners have banded together and arranged for coaches to carry them to Cairo. Voters residing outside Egypt are either voting in person at Anba Rweiss’s, or through power of attorney.

Five bishops from the Ethiopian Church are taking part in the voting, according to a protocol signed in 1994 between the two sister churches—the Egyptian and the Ethiopian—according to which both churches reciprocate in the election of their respective patriarchs. Two members of the clergy from the Eritrean Church, also a sister church to the Coptic Orthodox, are attending the elections as observers.

Well Organized

At Anba Rweiss’s, the Church’s scouts and guides are on hand to usher in the voters and lead them to their respective ballot boxes. For the aged and disabled, wheelchairs are available. Six glass ballot boxes are in place, two of which are reserved for Diaspora Copts. The election cards include the names of the five candidates in alphabetical order. Voters have to cross out the two they do not wish to vote for. Before the card is cast in the box a section of it is cut off and given to the voter so the numbers are cross-matched to ensure transparency and integrity.

A huge billboard hangs with the resume of each of the five candidates running for the elections. Voters should choose three from among the two bishops: Bishop-General of Downtown Cairo Anba Raphail, Bishop-General of Beheira Anba Tawodros; and the three monks: Father Raphail Ava Mina, Fr Pachomeus al-Suriani, and Fr Seraphim al-Suriani. The three winners’ names will next Sunday be placed in a glass box on the altar during Holy Mass; after Mass a blindfolded boy will draw out a name who will be the new patriarch. The new pope, who will be enthroned on 18 November, will be the 118th in the line of the patriarchs of Alexandria, and succeeds the widely-loved Pope Shenouda III who died last March after some 42 years into his papacy. Since last March, Archbishop of Beheira and Pentapolis Anba Pachomeus has been acting patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

By midday, Bishop of Tanta and member of the elections supervision committee Anba Pola called upon all voters who were done with casting their ballots not to linger inside and to kindly leave the site, since the huge parking area was jammed, and space was needed for new voters coming in cars.The supervision committee includes three members of the clergy and three of the laity, and is headed by acting patriarch Anba Pachomeus.

Judicial Supervision

The elections are conducted under full judicial supervision. Also monitoring the elections are several rights NGOs. The National Human Rights Centre issued a statement in which it announced it was honoured to monitor the papal elections, especially given that the 1957 bylaws which govern the elections stipulate neither judicial supervision nor NGO monitoring. The fact that the Coptic Church welcomed both in the current elections, the statement said, meant that the Church was working in integrity and transparency, and had nothing to hide. The centre said it is monitoring the freedom and ease with which voters reach the ballots and cast their votes, whether any pressure is exerted on the voters to vote for a specific candidate, the vote count and the announcement of the results. It will issue a report on the elections and will cite any violations. On its part, the Church has had the five papal candidates each sign a pledge to amend and update the 1957 bylaws within a year since coming into office.

Church says ‘No’ to rallying

There had been a few attempts during the last week by a number of Coptic activists to rally voters behind specific candidates, but the Church announced its rejection of such efforts. The post of the papacy, a source from the office of acting patriarch Anba Pachomeus said, was one of service and was not open to traditional competition. The five candidates, he said, were praying and fasting together in love, and awaited the Lord’s final word on the matter. The Church itself has approached the papal elections with prayer and fasting: three counts of three-day first-degree fasts were declared; one was before the short-listing of the candidates from an original 17 to the current five, the second before the elections of today, and the third will be next week before the altar draw.

Source:
OCP News Service