Samar Yahya
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Egypt’s former military chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was the choice of Egyptian expatriates as he garnered a whopping 94.7% of votes cast by Egyptians working in the Kingdom.
Egyptians in the Kingdom cast their ballots to chose a new president for the second time since Jan. 25 revolution. The voting process for Egyptian expatriates began last Thursday and culminated on Monday. The results were announced on Monday night.
Out of the 37,090 accepted ballots, 36,468 were valid and 622 were declared null and void. El-Sisi got 34,304 votes while his opponent Hamdeen Sabahi could manage only 2,164 votes.
However, this result doesn’t indicate the final outcome. Elections in Egypt are scheduled on May 26 and 27.
Other countries also announced results of the voting. El-Sisi was the favorite everywhere: 93% Egyptian expats in Sweden voted for El-Sisi. In Sudan, out of a total 1,397 votes, El-Sisi got 1,322 and Sabahy only 60 vote. In Austria, out of 2,010, El-Sisi received 1,886 and Sabahy 106. In Tunis, out of 284, El-Sisi received 212 and Sabahy 18.
Egypt’s Consul General Adel El-Alfy and his team interacted with the public in the outer tent dedicated to receive electorates to ensure the process ran smoothly and also to listen to feedback from the electorates.
He also praised the awareness of the electorate and their cooperative attitude in following the instructed procedures to ensure fair results.
The consul general was also all praise for the efforts of Saudi authorities in the smooth conduct of the election process.
“The process was smooth since the first moment and the Judicial Committee of Presidential Electorate provided an e-reader which facilitated the process. It took less than two minutes for an electorate to cast his/her ballot.
In the consulate, we also conducted a survey on the longest time an electorate might spend to cast their ballot and the result was a maximum of 25 minutes from the moment he/she steps in the consulate up until he/she leaves the consulate’s premises,” El-Alfy commented.
El-Sisi’s representative in Jeddah, Mohammad Abu El-Aish, said the whole process went well and people were very keen to choose their president.
Sabahi’s representative in Jeddah, Mohammad Sabahy, also viewed people’s eagerness to cast their ballot. He also praised the cooperation of the voters who followed the instructions which helped make the process easier.
Out of an approximately 8 million Egyptians abroad, only 681,346 are registered to vote. Of them, 312,397 live in Saudi Arabia, forming 45 percent of the Egyptians living abroad.
