Nearly 65,000 vote on first day of Egypt's expat voting

Ahram Online, Friday 16 May 2014

Egyptians abroad vote at embassies and consulates in 124 countries worldwide on Thursday, as Egypt's presidential elections get started

Elections
Madna Omar, far left, encourages a line of voters at the Egyptian consulate to join her, as she sings along with an online music video supporting Egyptian presidential candidate Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in New York, Thursday, May 15, 2014 (Photo: AP)

Figures from the first day of expat voting in Egypt's presidential elections showed that nearly 65,000 people turned out worldwide, according to Abdel-Aziz Salman, spokesman for the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC), as quoted by Al-Ahram's Arabic news website. 

The foreign ministry has said initial indicators from Australia and the Gulf states show a high turnout of voters in Egypt's presidential election, with long queues at polling stations.

Egyptians living abroad still have three more days to cast their ballots at Egyptian embassies and consulates in 124 countries.

Elections at home will take place on 26-27 May between former military chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi.

Foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Atti said the ministry had not received any complaints of major violations in polling stations on Thursday.

However, Sabahi’s campaign said its overseas representatives said it witnessed violations ranging from insults to his supporters to people campaigning on site for El-Sisi.

In January's referendum on the country's new constitution, around 107,000 of 600,000 eligible expatriates voted.

 

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