Six countries with Egyptian populations and democratic representation reported no Egyptian expats casting votes during the second phase of parliamentary elections, according to results announced by the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) on Friday evening.
These countries are Panama, Angola, Serbia, Mozambique, Mauritius, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait saw the high turnout rate, with 35% of eligible voters in Egypt participating, with 18,500 voters. In Kuwait, 15% of eligible voters took part in the elections. The United Arab Emirates was a close third, with an estimated 12% turnout.
In the first phase of the elections, a total of 30,531 people voted from abroad, representing just 4.5% of over 680,000 potential voters. Some 1,800 of the votes cast were deemed void.
The number of Egyptians living abroad is estimated at 8 million people, and about 682,000 of them are eligible to vote.
Every Egyptian resident living abroad can vote if their name is registered in the voters’ database, by showing the relevant form of identification on the day of voting. They must be in possession of a national ID card, including their address in Egypt, or a passport that proves their identity.
The elections are considered the final phase of the “Roadmap to Democracy”, which was announced by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in July 2013, following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi by the military after protests against his rule.
