Crowds of Egyptians abroad flocked to polling stations in 137 embassies and consulates in 121 countries around the world, to cast their votes in the presidential elections in which four candidates are competing – Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Abdel-Sanad Yamama, Farid Zahran, and Hazem Omar.
Elections for Egyptian expats started on Friday and ends on Saturday. Crowds of voters queued in front of polling stations, before voting opened at nine am.
The National Elections Authority formed a central operations room equipped with live television broadcasts to follow up on voting operations inside the headquarters of diplomatic missions.
Egyptian embassies abroad, in turn, explained how Egyptians abroad cast their votes, confirming on their Facebook pages that voters can cast their votes by showing valid passport, or national ID card “even if it is expired.”
Citizens can check their listing in the voter database by visiting the National Elections Authority website and inquiring about the electoral position here.
Elections on Friday saw an influx of a large numbers of expat voters, especially in the Gulf countries, who waited in front of the electoral headquarters before voting opened.
Polling stations in New Zealand were the first to open to voters due to its geographical location and the time difference with Egypt at about 11 hours. After that, polling stations were opened in the diplomatic headquarters of Egyptian embassies and consulates abroad.
The head of the executive branch of the National Elections Authority Ahmed Bandary, held a video conference session with Egypt’s ambassador to New Zealand George Azer who confirmed that the Egyptian embassy had completed all preparations to receive voters from the Egyptian community – whose number is estimated at about 5,000 citizens.
The Egyptian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, the European Union and NATO, Badr Abdel-Aty, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the voting process takes place easily without any obstacles in the presence of representatives of some candidates and representatives from various media outlets eager to cover the ballot process.
Abdel-Aty assured that all means of care were provided to the voters, especially due to difficult weather conditions and expected snowfall during the upcoming three days.
Waiting places were provided inside the embassy sufficient for all numbers of voters wishing to cast their votes, he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
