Egypt polls turnout at 26.5 per cent

Cairo: Around 26.5 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in Egypt’s first round of parliamentary polls held earlier this week, an election commission announced Wednesday night.

“The number of voters who participated in the first phase reached 7.27 million, making up 26.56 per cent of the registered voters of 27.4 million for this stage,” the panel’s head Ayman Abbas, told a press conference.

The first round of the long-awaited elections was held on Sunday and Monday in 14 of Egypt’s 27 governorates.

Abbas said that the highest turnout took place in the Western Desert governorate of the New Valley with 37 per cent of the eligible voters there, while Giza, a twin city of Cairo, ranked last with 21 per cent.

The second and final round is scheduled for next month in the 13 other governorates including Cairo.

Abbas said that For the Love of Egypt, an alliance loyal to President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, secured all the 60 seats, which were up for grabs for party-based lists in the first round.

The bloc, led by former intelligence officer Sameh Saiful Yazal, comprises 10 political parties, wealthy businessmen and ex-government officials.

Only four of 226 seats reserved for individual candidates in the first stage were won, thus setting the scene for vote run-offs on the remaining seats next week, according to Abbas.

 The two-round election allocates a total of 120 seats for political parties through a system of absolute the winner-takes-all lists.

This arrangement gives the party list, which wins more than 50 per cent of the vote in any electoral district, all the seats there.

A 2014 constitution grants the parliament unprecedented powers including the right to call for an early presidential election.

The parliament or the House of Representatives will be made up of 596 members, including 568 elected lawmakers: 448 for independents and 120 through party-based lists. The president has the authority to appoint 28 members in the assembly.