Egyptians’ huge voter turnout indicates high awareness: Amb.

CAIRO – 16 March 2018: Egyptians’ participation in the 2018 presidential election indicates their high awareness of the political challenges facing their country, said Egypt’s ambassador in Brussels, Belgium, Khalid Al-Baqli, on Friday, March 16.

“Despite that today is not a formal holiday in Belgium, Egyptians were keen to come to the embassy and cast their ballots on time,” Baqli said in statements to Egypt Today. He expected more Egyptians to come over the two following days to vote in the election.

He added that Europe is a continent that enjoys a high level of political awareness. “Everyone here knows his rights and obligations, which will enhance our country’s positive transformation,” he said.

Baqli affirmed that the embassy has prepared everything for the elections since Thursday, March 15. “Everything was ready inside the embassy to welcome voters since last night,” he affirmed.

Embassies all over the world, and especially Arab countries, witnessed huge turnouts since their doors opened at 9 a.m. in their local time zones.

Earlier, the National Elections Authority (NEA) held a press conference to review the progress of the electoral process that commenced Friday for overseas Egyptian voters and will last for three consecutive days.

NEA spokesperson Mahmoud El Sherif, who also serves as deputy head of the NEA, said Egyptian embassies abroad witnessed a huge turnout from each country's respective Egyptian community.

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

Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister 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.