The Anglican Bishop of Aweil Diocese Abraham Yel Nhial said the recent election for the Anglican primate and Archbishop was peaceful and transparent although he lost to the Bishop of Maridi Diocese Justin Badi Arama.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Bishop Yel said he accepted the results of what he termed as a tight race in which he lost by one vote to preserve unity and strengthen harmony within the Anglican Church and the whole country.

“The election was conducted in a harmonious atmosphere although there were election fevers during campaign but at the end of the day Bishop Badi was declared the successful candidate. He won by 1 vote. He got 80 votes and I got 79 votes. Immediately after the announcement was made, I stood up and congratulated him. I did it so to preserve the unity of the church and to strengthen harmony of our believers and the faithful,” he said.

The religious leader said that the elections did show that the deep seated ethnic divisions did not play any role in the election process, despite differences in choice.

“People who nominated me were not from ethnic Dinka.  They were other tribes. The first person to nominate me was not from Northern Bahr El Ghazal internal province, not even a member of the Aweil community but someone from Equatoria. The other contender, reverend Justin Arama Badi was nominated by archbishop of Upper Nile internal province,” he explained.