Egyptians in Algeria vote in presidential polls despite rain

CAIRO – 16 March 2018: Egyptian expatriates in Algeria flocked to the designated polling stations early Friday to cast their votes in the 2018 presidential election.
The participation of Egyptians in the presidential election was positive despite the wave of the heavy rain that hit Algeria through the past five days, Egyptian ambassador to Algeria Amr Abu Aish said.

Abu Aish added in a phone call with Extra News channel that most of the Egyptian community in Algeria is comprised of employees working in Egyptian companies in the country. Those companies arranged buses to transport the workers to the embassy to cast their votes.

Up to 50% of Egyptian expats in Algeria, who work in oil service companies in the southern part of the country, traveled 1,800 kilometers to the capital to participate in the election.

Consulates and embassies across the world officially opened their doors Friday at 9 a.m., according to each country’s local time.

The Egyptian embassy in New Zealand was the first to open to the electorate, given an 11-hour time difference with Cairo.

China, Japan, Russia and Indonesia followed shortly throughout the night. Due to political unrest and a worsening security situation, voting will not take place in Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Egyptians at home are due to cast their ballots on March 26-28 in the country's 27 governorates.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister’s deputy, Hamdi Loza, previously 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 Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He added that the Foreign Affairs 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 election, which will begin on March 16 and last for three days.

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

The National Election Authority (NEA), headed by counselor Lashen Ibrahim, announced on February 24 the final candidates for Egypt’s upcoming presidential election: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Moussa Moustafa Moussa, the 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 as the most eligible.

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