Centrist Geoffrey Smith failed to win an election by a single vote in four of seven ballots, as conservatives held out in favor of GAFCON-Australia chair Richard Condie.
Philip Freier's early resignation allows a new primate to be elected before this summer's General Synod, which will likely respond to respond to endorsements of same-sex marriage in two dioceses while aiming to preserve unity as a "mixed economy church."
Wangaratta Bishop John Parkes will comply with the Australian primate's request to wait until the church's Appellate Tribunal renders a judgment on his diocese's authorization of same-sex marriages.
