Egyptians Vote in Final Round of Legislative Polls

Egyptians Vote in Final Round of Legislative Polls


 
Turnout is expected to be higher in the final round.


 
Egyptian voters went to the polling stations Thursday, December 1, for a third and final phase of parliamentary elections, in which the ruling National Democratic Party seeks to secure a two-third majority of the overall seats and the Muslim Brotherhood hopes to consolidate its newfound electoral strength despite a wave of arrests.


More than 10 million voters are eligible to cast ballot in the final round where some 1,774 candidates are running for the remaining 136 People’s Assembly seats, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).


The vote is taking place in nine Egyptian governorates; Kafr El-Sheikh, Dakahlia, Sharkia, Damietta, Sohag, Aswan, the Red Sea, northern and southern Sinai.


In the second constituency of Kafr El-Sheikh, large crowds of voters lined in front of polling stations even before 08:00 a.m. (06:00 GMT), the official opening hour, witnesses told IOL.


But in the Delta city of Zagazig, only a handful of voters turned out in the first minutes to cast ballot in the adjacent schools in Zagazig’s Nahal district, according to the Associated Press (AP).


The NDP filed 136 candidates and the Muslim Brotherhood filed 49 runners, whereas opposition candidates number 56 and the remaining 1529 are independents.


Female candidates number 28 and these are running in seven governorates. Only three women have made it to parliament so far.