Egypt embassies prepare for presidential polls due March 16

CAIRO – 13 March 2018: With Egypt's presidential elections approaching, the Foreign Minister's Deputy Hamdi Loza, who oversees the elections for Egyptians abroad, said the first polling station to open its door for the voting process will be in New Zealand at 10:00 pm (Cairo local time) on Thursday.

In a phone call to Al-Hayat Al-Youm, Loza said that all foreign missions have been provided with electronic scanners so voters’ ID cards and passports can be quickly scanned, noting that the whole expatriate voting process will be monitored by surveillance cameras linked with an operations room at the foreign ministry.

He added that the foreign ministry held training courses for committees that will supervise voting abroad under the supervision of the National Elections Authority (NEA), as well as other procedures aimed at facilitating the highest turnout from expats.

Loza called on Egyptians abroad to participate in the presidential elections, which will begin on March 16 and last for three days.

In 2017 the government estimated the number of Egyptians living abroad at 9.4 million.

The National Election Authority (NEA), headed by counselor Lashin Ibrahim, announced on February 24 the final list for Egypt’s upcoming presidential election including President Sisi and Moussa Moustafa Moussa, Head of al-Ghad Party.

Sisi showed his intention to run for president during his closing speech at the end of the three-day “Tale of a Homeland” conference, where the president and the Egyptian government presented an overview of the projects and achievements made in different fields during the last four years.

On his official Twitter account, Sisi called on the Egyptian people to participate intensively in the upcoming election and give their votes to whomever they see most eligible.

The NEA announced that the voting process in the 2018 presidential election will start inside Egypt on March 26, in a televised statement on January 8.

Sixty million eligible voters will cast their ballots in the election on March 26-28 in Egypt, while expatriates will vote on March 16-18 at 139 polling stations located in embassies and consulates of 124 countries, said Ibrahim in a press conference.

The primary results of the first round of the election will be announced on March 29, where decisions on appeals submitted by candidates, if any, will be made.

The final results of the first round will be announced on April 2.