The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday evening the total vote count for Egyptians living abroad in parliamentary elections that took place on Saturday and Sunday.
The SEC’s president Judge Ayman Abbas said a total of 30,531 people voted abroad, of which 28,675 votes were valid and 1,856 voided. Final results will be announced at the end of the week, according to the SEC.
Locals voted Sunday and Monday, and preliminary results have started to be announced by judges in polling stations since the count began on Monday night. On the individual level, many polling stations in different governorates announced that several candidates will enter a second round of elections, revealing intense competition in some constituencies.
In the Giza constituency of Agouza/Dokki, local media focused on clashes that already started between candidates such as Ahmed Mortada Mansour and Abdel Reheem Ali, who started dealing with the people as a winner and posted to his Twitter account: “I consider myself a representative of all the people.”
On a further note, competition increased between electoral lists, although “For the Love of Egypt” seemed to have obtained the majority of votes in several governorates, but not necessarily on the level of small constituencies.
“Nedaa Misr” and the Egyptian Front Coalition and Tayyar Al-Istiqlal joint list also obtained votes in Upper Egypt governorates. The last list, “Al-Sawha Al-Wataneya”, ranked last in all reported numbers.
The four lists are competing with 45 candidates each in the governorates of Aswan, Luxor, Beni Suef, Sohag, New Valley, Red Sea, Giza, Fayoum and Assiut.
However, in West Delta governorates, Alexandria, Beheira, and Matruh, results are far from final, with the Al-Nour Party list advancing against “For the Love of Egypt”, notably in Matruh. Lists include 15 members each.
Generally, elections were peaceful, with the exception of minor clashes between different candidates’ supporters in all governorates, which also resulted in the arrest of some. The interior ministry’s media office could not confirm the number of cases of people arrested outside polling stations, but said several cases have taken place.
Observatory missions mostly noted the continuation of low turnouts on the second day, despite slight increases towards the last hours before polling stations were closed. Along with political parties, they have reported many violations, on top of which came bribing voters in different ways, including cash bribes starting EGP 50 up to EGP 500.
Complaints have been filed to the SEC, but its spokesperson Omar Marwan said Monday that they have received just over 200 complaints, and that “most of them were not serious”
