ETHIOPIA: NEW PARTIARCH OF ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ELECTED IN FIRST CHURCH ELECTIONS FREE OF POLITICAL MANIPULATION.

Record ID: 584542

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: NEW PARTIARCH OF ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ELECTED IN FIRST CHURCH ELECTIONS FREE OF POLITICAL MANIPULATION.
  • Date: 10th July 1976
  • Summary: 1. GV Holy Trinity Church, Addis Ababa PAN BACK 0.10 2. SV INT Religious delegates from monasteries queuing to vote inside church (2 shots) 0.22 3. SV Delegates being handed ballot papers (3 shots) 0.54 4. SV Delegates walking to ballot boxes and voting (3 shots) 1.20 Initials BB/0300 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th July 1976 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Reuters ID: LVAEYDDCB2YGJC95CRDXZKC2WT6K
  • Story Text: The new Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is Aba Wolde-Mikael, a 58 year-old evangelist monk from the town of Wolayita Soddo.

    SYNOPSIS: It was at the Holy Trinity Church in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, that the election of the new Patriarch took place. Delegates from various monasteries in the fourteenth Province lined up to cast their vote for the new Patriarch on Wednesday (7 July).

    Wolde-Mikael won the highest vote from among the four other candidates during the entirely democratic elections, held during the afternoon. Of the 809 votes cast, he had 317. The votes were allotted to delegates representing church leaders of various dioceses and monasteries throughout the country. One delegate abstained during the vote while 59 others came late and did not vote.

    A 13 member committee, which supervised the election, said that it was the first time that an independent and democratic election for the highest post in the Ethiopian church was hold free from political pressure. The Committee noted that the previous two elections had been rigged by the former feudal regime of Emperor Haile Selassie through manipulation of the electorate.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register