Amathountos bishop Nicolaos announced his candidacy for Paphos bishop on Tuesday, saying that although he was hesitant at first, he could not say no after “the sincere efforts” by those who urged him to go ahead.

Meanwhile, presiding officers who will supervise the 126 polling stations around the city on Sunday are currently being trained by the Church Treasury Chief Ioannis Charilaou, who has also been named general supervisor of the elections.

Voting will take place between 10am-5pm, with a break between 1pm-2pm.

The post is currently vacant after the former bishop Georgios was elected the new archbishop of the Church of Cyprus on December 24.

Eligible to vote are Orthodox Christians over 18 and Paphos permanent residents, meaning they have lived in the district for at least a year.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday, Charilaou said the presiding officers will be civil servants and people employed by the Church of Cyprus.

The election process for the nomination of a new Paphos bishop includes two stages, the drawing of a tripartite representative by the voters and the selection of the Bishop by the Holy Synod.

Each ballot paper will be white and will bear a special seal of the Holy Synod for the purposes of the election.

After counting them, presiding officers will send the ballot papers to the Archdiocese.

Furthermore, any voter may, within three days, submit any potential objections to the electoral process to the Holy Synod.

Within five days of the expiry of the deadline for submitting objections, the Holy Synod will convene and take a final decision, before proceeding to the ratification of the results and the appointment of the Paphos bishop.