Egyptian Voters Flock to Polling Stations for Presidential Election
(AWP) - Egyptian voters flocked to polling stations on Sunday, the first of three days of voting in a presidential election to choose the country’s president for a six-year term, expressing hope the coming term will bring prosperity and security to their nation.
Four candidates are running in the election: Incumbent President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESDP) Leader Farid Zahran, the liberal Al-Wafd Party Leader Abdel Sanad Yamama and Republican Peoples’ Party Leader Hazem Omar.
“I hope in the next presidential term the country will maintain its security, freedom, justice and peace,” said Nima Ibrahim, an Egyptian woman casting her vote in a polling station in al-Haram district, Giza governorate.
“I wish all the best for Egypt and that it will always prosper and progress to become the best country in the world,” said another voter at the same polling station.
Sisi was sworn in for his first presidential term in June 2014 and was re-elected for a second term in June 2018.
The new presidential term is now six years instead of four following constitutional amendments in 2019, which extended Sisi’s second term to early April 2024 and allowed him to run for a third one.
Approximately 65 million Egyptians are eligible to vote in the election that is being overseen by the judiciary and monitored by 14 international organisations and 62 local civil society organisations, according to the National Election Authority (NEA).
Egyptians abroad also cast their votes over three days earlier this month.
The election results will be announced on December 18, provided that the race is decided in the first round.