By lunchtime only 15.4 per cent of people entitled to take part in the election for a new Archbishop had voted, Archbishopric elections commissioner Ioannis Charilaou said on Sunday.

Specifically, of the 548,793 people with the right to vote, only 84,588 had done so.

The most active district was Kykkos, where 29.77 per cent had voted, followed by Famagusta at 21.34 per cent.

He said a few small problems had arisen that were immediately solved, which were much fewer than had been expected.

“Everything is going very smoothly and we are very satisfied,” he said.

Asked about the low turnout, he said the church had been ready to handle 100 per cent of voters and again called on people to take part.

Meanwhile, police spokesman Christos Andreou said no incident had been reported around the island.

Speaking from the crisis command centre in Nicosia, he said that 350 officers were involved in mobile checks on all centres.

“Until now, as regards the elections, there has been no incident,” Andreou said although one small episode had broken out at a church in Nicosia but this was not related to the vote.

A person who had damaged the property of the church had been arrested, he said.

Asked about 12 people who had voted but were not registered to vote, Andreou said this was not a matter for the police.