Voting continues to run smoothly in the final day of voting for the second phase of Egypt’s House of Representatives elections, head of the national election authority (NEA) Lashin Ibrahim said on Sunday.
Ibrahim said that the NEA has an open line of communication with judicial authorities in the 13 governorates overseeing the elections to ensure an orderly process.
Earlier on Sunday, polls reopened in several regions in Egypt for the second phase of the House of Representatives elections.
All polling stations, set at 9,468, opened their doors at 9 am to receive voters who adhered to the coronavirus preventive measures, including wearing face masks. Voting will run until 9 pm on Sunday, concluding the second stage of the parliamentary elections.
The second stage of parliamentary elections covers 13 governorates: Cairo, Qalioubiya, Daqahliya, Menoufiya, Gharbiya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Sharqiya, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai and South Sinai.
Temperature checks have been used in several polling stations in New Cairo, with the elections seeing a high turnout by women in most polling stations.
Several officials, including Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled Al-Anany, Health Minister Hala Zayed, and Minister of Manpower Mohamed Saafan have cast their ballots in their polling stations.The first day of voting saw a good voter turnout, with the voting process running smoothly, the NEA said on Saturday.
Around 31 million Egyptians are eligible to cast their ballots in the second phase.
Wearing face masks and adhering to social distancing are among the mandatory restrictions adopted during the election.
Some 2,083 candidates are competing for 70 individual seats, while 284 candidates are competing under the list system in two districts.
The domestic vote comes days after around 140 polling stations in embassies and consulates in 124 countries concluded on Friday mail-in voting by Egyptians abroad after opening to receive ballots on Wednesday.
The results of the second stage are set to be announced on 15 November.Earlier this month, the NEA announced the results of the first phase of the elections, with the electoral list led by the pro-government Mostaqbal Watan Party sweeping the majority of votes.
The turnout in the first stage was 28.06 percent, with the number of people casting their vote amounting to slightly more than nine million out of 31.7 million eligible voters in the 14 governorates included in that phase.
The number of seats allocated for the first stage was 284, with 142 seats for each of the individual and electoral list systems.
Run-offs will be held for both the first and second stage this month and December, respectively.
