CAIRO: Egypt’s justice ministry has agreed to a constitutional amendment to allow millions of Egyptians living abroad to vote in parliamentary elections, a government newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Under the new amendment, Egyptian expatriates can cast their ballots in the next general poll at their country’s diplomatic missions, without a judicial supervision and using their Egyptian passports, Al-Ahram newspaper said.
However, in an interview with Al Akhbar newspaper, Interior Minister Mansour Al-Essawy said that the process will be very complicated, “almost impossible”.
Egyptians will begin voting on November 28 in the first elections since a popular uprising ended president Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-rule in February.
According to a constitutional declaration issued by Egypt’s military rulers, polls and referendums are held under full judicial supervision.
An estimated eight million Egyptians live abroad, many of them in other Arab countries, out of a total population of 80 million.
An administrative court on last month ruled that Egyptian expatriates, deprived of the vote under Mubarak, will have the right to cast their ballots in the poll.
Several political parties and politicians have repeatedly demanded that Egyptians in the diaspora be allowed to take part in the vote.
