CAIRO – Polling stations in Egypt closed yesterday evening, wrapping up the second stage of a parliamentary election in which candidates loyal to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are expected to win.
The two-day vote began on Saturday and was held in 13 provinces, including here, the Nile Delta and along the Suez Canal.
Of Egypt’s more than 100 million population, some 63 million are eligible to vote, picking 568 of the 596 lawmakers in the Lower House – widely seen as a rubber-stamp body for executive policies.
General-turned-president Sisi, who cast his ballot on Saturday, will appoint the remaining 28 deputies.
Since he took office in 2014, his government has launched a severe crackdown on dissent, targeting journalists, bloggers, lawyers and intellectuals.
The first phase of voting took place on October 24 and 25 in 14 provinces, including the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and the country’s south.
Run-offs are due to be held later this month and in December, and the winners will take up their posts in Parliament in January.
The new legislature, which is to sit for five years, will be the second to convene under Sisi, who led the 2013 military ouster of his Islamist predecessor, Mohamed Morsi.
The outgoing Parliament, elected in 2015, was packed with Sisi supporters, and featured only a small opposition bloc known as 25/30. – AFP, November 9, 2020
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