Well, I guess William Crawley gets points for calling it Friday at Will and Testament. His closing line was

In other words: it’s too close to call. If I was a betting man (whichI’m not), I’d expect the election to continue into March.

The results were just released by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, as reported by the BBC, and two nominees, the Rev.  Norman Hamilton of Ballysillan, Belfast, and the Rev. Norman McAuley of Greenwell Street, Newtownards, both received the votes of five presbyteries.  The other nine presbytery votes were not specifically reported but only described as “divided among three other candidates.”  And that means that one candidate received no votes.

When the voting is reported I’ll update it here.  However, the BBC article is suggestive by listing the Rev. Derek McKelvey, Rev. Ivan Patterson, and the Rev. Roy Mackey, but not the Rev. Ruth Patterson.

UPDATE: The Church press release is now out and breaks down the voting as:  Hamilton – 5, McAuley – 5, McKelvey – 4, I. Patterson – 4, and Mackey – 1.  They also note that this is the third tie vote in nine years.

So, as Mr. Crawley so presciently suggested, the presbyteries will vote again between these two nominees in March.