Polls in 13 Egyptian governorates closed at 9pm local time on Monday, marking the end of the first day of voting in the run-off for the first stage of the country's parliament elections.

Polling stations opened at 9am for citizens to cast their ballots in the round, which is limited to candidates running under the individual candidacy system and they will reopen for a second and final day on Tuesday, with the results of the first stage’s runoffs to be announced by the end of November.

Also, Egyptian expats in 124 countries are to conclude the five-day voting period for the runoffs at 9pm, according to local time in each country.

The governorates taking part in this stage’s run-off vote are Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, El-Wadi El-Gedid, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria, Beheira, and Matrouh.

A total of 220 candidates are competing for 110 seats in these governorates.

Seats for the Red Sea governorate were decided in the first round of voting.

The voting is taking place amid strict measures against the coronavirus, and the Armed Forces and police are securing polling stations.

The turnout in the first round of this stage, conducted between 21 and 25 October, was 28.06 percent, the National Elections Authority said.

The number of people casting their vote amounted to slightly more than 9 million out of 31.7 million eligible voters in the 14 governorates originally included in this phase.

In preparation for the voting process, polling stations were disinfected as a protective measure against the coronavirus crisis.

Security forces were deployed to face any potential hostile acts that may impact the voting process, and security patrols were prepared to intervene in case of any emergency.

Meanwhile, the run-off of the second stage, which includes the remaining 13 governorates, will be held in December.



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