Metropolitan Kirill accepted his election as Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus, and the vote outcome became clear after Metropolitan Filaret withdrew and urged support for the Patriarchal Locum Tenens. 508 delegates voted for Kirill, nearly three times more than for Metropolitan Clement. The Local Council still has important issues to discuss, including approval of the Act on canonical communion between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Church Abroad, and the council is already called more democratic than previous ones, with women participating for the first time and expanded rights for laypeople.

"I accept my election by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. I thank you and do not object in the least," Metropolitan Kirill replied to the traditional question asked in such cases, whether he agrees to accept the rank.
The day before, the Bishops' Council had proposed three candidates — Metropolitans Kirill, Kliment, and Filaret. After the latter withdrew his candidacy and called on his supporters to vote for the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Kirill, the outcome of the election became obvious.
Three times as many people voted for Metropolitan Kirill as for Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk (508 and 169 votes, respectively).
The program of the Local Council includes six more plenary sessions. So what will the delegates of the Council discuss after the main event — the election of the Patriarch — is already behind them? The Local Council is the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is to approve the decisions of the Bishops' Councils. Apparently, this is what the delegates will have to do. In particular, the Act on Canonical Communion between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is awaiting approval.
The current Council differs from all previous ones in its greater democracy. For example, for the first time in the history of the Russian Church, women are participating in its work, making up one tenth of the delegates. The rights of laypeople participating in the Council have been expanded. Previously, they had only an advisory vote; now they voted on an equal footing with the bishops. Russian citizens make up less than half of the Council delegates, which shows that the Russian Orthodox Church unites people all over the world.