Egyptian polls open for second day in final phase of elections

Published November 23rd, 2015 - 09:24 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

Egypt opened polling stations for the second day Monday in Cairo and 12 other governorates for the second stage of its parliamentary elections.

Voting will take place between 9am and 9pm.

Public sector employees have been given a half day off to allow time for voting.

The first day went smoothly, with turnout fluctuating depending on polling station.

Monday marks the last day before run-offs on 1 December and 2 December.

Voting abroad was concluded Sunday night.

A number of 222 individual seats are contested by hundreds of candidates in the second round.

For party-based lists, a total of 60 seats in two constituencies in Cairo and the Nile Delta are in play.

The 13 governorates voting on Monday are Cairo, Qalyubia, Daqahliya, Menoufiya, Sharkeya, Gharebya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai and South Sinai.

The new legislature will be comprised of 596 seats: 448 elected as individuals and 120 through winner-takes-all lists. The remaining 5% of the parliament will be appointed by the president. The chamber is planned to hold its inaugural session in December

The first phase of the elections, held in 14 provinces on October 18 and 19, witnessed a turnout of 26.5 percent.

A total of 55.6 million Egyptians are eligible to cast ballots in the parliamentary polls; 27.4 million were eligible to vote during the first stage, while 28.2 million are in the second.

The last parliamentary elections held in Egypt came months after the toppling of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 amid revolutionary fervour, yielding a turnout of 62 percent in the first round.

Egypt has been without a parliament since the 2011 chamber, dominated by Islamists, was dissolved by a court ruling in June 2012.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has held legislative power since taking office 17 months ago.

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