Egypt polls: Expats turn out in force

Egypt’s upcoming elections saw a high turnout of voters at the Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh and the Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah on Thursday in the first of a four-day voting period for electing either ex-military commander Abdel Fattah El-Sissi or Egyptian Popular Current leader Hamdeen Sabahi.
Voting turnout was highest on Thursday morning, but had calmed by noon.
Egyptian citizens voted at the Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah until 4 p.m.
Thursday afternoon saw a fairly modest turnout compared with the 2012 elections, in which nine candidates were running for president.
The voting period for Egyptians abroad will end on May 18.
Maher Al-Masri, a representative of the Egyptian diplomatic mission at the consulate in Jeddah, predicted a bigger turnout in the next two days since Friday and Saturday is the Kingdom’s official weekend.
He said the majority of Egyptians who came to the consulate on Thursday were mainly from Jeddah and Makkah, but that many Egyptians living in remote areas would likely vote over the weekend.
Al-Masri described the atmosphere as being calmer than during the last presidential election of 2012 because a large segment of Mursi’s supporters are expected to refrain from participating in this election.
Samir Abu Atta, a civil engineer working at a construction company, said he is keen to exercise his right to participate in the election for the next president because abstention negates the democratic process.
Mahmoud Abdel-Azim Maraghi said that he is participating in the elections with the hope that the results will be respected this time.
Maraghi denounced the presence of individuals outside the consulate trying to sway voters to choose a specific candidates and expects authorities supervising the electoral process to stop them during the remaining three days of the electoral process.
There are more than two million Egyptian expats residing in the Kingdom.
Voters can go directly to the commission’s headquarters at the embassy or consulate to vote with their national ID card or passport without the need for prior registration.
The Egyptian presidential election inside Egypt will take place on May 26 and 27.