A majority of polling stations were left yearning for voters during parliamentary elections after a low voter turnout on the first day, which caused one judge presiding over a polling station to become overly excited when a voter walked in, only to find out that the participant was actually a candidate.
Shaaban Abdel-Alim, a candidate for the Salafi-led Nour Party, told CBC a judge at a polling station was so happy to see him enter the place.
“He told me to come in because he could not find anyone to vote,” said Abdel-Alim. “He said he thought I was a voter.”
Abdel-Alim said the polling stations he toured on Sunday were “almost empty”.
The government estimated that between 15 and 16 percent voted on Sunday, out of a registered 27 million voters. The scarcity of voters came despite an address by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the nation urging citizens to actively participate in the polls.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
