Egyptians head to polls again to elect new parliament

Egyptians head to polls again to elect new parliament

Egyptians head to polls again to elect new parliament

Egyptians began voting Sunday across 13
of the country’s 27 provinces in the
second phase of parliamentary elections
after a low turnout marred the first
stage in the absence of any strong
opposition.
The election is expected to elect
lawmakers who firmly back President
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has crushed all
forms of dissent since ousting his
Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in
July 2013.
Polling for the two-day second phase
opened at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) across 13
provinces, including in Cairo, with few
voters seen trickling in to cast their
ballots.
Only a dozen voters waited at three
polling stations in the capital’s central
district of Shubra.
The first round of the election was held
across 14 of the country’s 27 provinces
on October 18 and 19, and produced a
turnout of 26.6 percent.
A run-off held days later produced an
even lower turnout of 21.7 percent.
If necessary, the second phase will also
have a run-off on December 1-2. A run-
off is held after the initial voting fails to
produce a winner with a clear majority.
Analysts expect voting to be low in the
latest phase too, given the overall
disinterest among voters who expect the
new 596-member parliament to simply
rubber-stamp Sisi’s decisions.
Sisi remains popular to many Egyptians
tired of years of political turmoil
triggered after the 2011 ouster of
longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt’s last general election was held in
2011 at a time of widespread
enthusiasm, months after the ouster of
Mubarak, and the first round saw
turnout of 62 percent.
The resulting Islamist-dominated
parliament was dissolved in June 2012,
days before Morsi became the country’s
first freely elected president.
Morsi was deposed a year later by then
army chief Sisi after mass street protests
against the Islamist’s divisive one year
rule.
Sisi was elected to succeed him in 2014
after brutally crushing all forms of
opposition — supporters of Morsi’s
Muslim Brotherhood as well as
secularists and leftists.
The Brotherhood, for decades the
country’s main opposition group, has
been blacklisted as a “terrorist” group
and banned from competing, while
several secular parties are either
boycotting the latest polls or are badly
represented.
The ouster of Morsi saw a blistering
government crackdown targeting his
supporters that left more than 1,400
people dead, mostly in the streets of
Cairo, and thousands imprisoned.
Hundreds more, including Morsi, have
been sentenced to death after often
speedy trials.