Buses for Egyptians in KSA to facilitate voting

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Sat, 17 Mar 2018 - 03:36 GMT

BY

Sat, 17 Mar 2018 - 03:36 GMT

Egyptian community in Jeddah head to polling stations on second day of presidential election - Egypt Today

Egyptian community in Jeddah head to polling stations on second day of presidential election - Egypt Today

CAIRO - 17 March 2018: Minister of Immigration Nabila Makram ordered Saturday to provide Egyptian voters in Tabuk and Dammam cities in Saudi Arabia with buses to transport them to embassies, where they cast their votes on the second day of presidential election 2018, upon their request.

The ministry of immigration has launched an operation room to follow up on the 2018 presidential election abroad that kicked off on Friday and lasts for 3 days. The operation room is launched under directives of minister Makram to ensure an easygoing ballot casting process for Egyptian expatriates.

The room is fully equipped with the required devices to communicate and monitor the election process upload; it communicates with Egyptian embassies across the globe to resolve any obstacle that might hinder the process.

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Egyptian Immigration Minister Nabila Makram at Operation room - press photo

The Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs has provided hotline numbers to receive any complaints from expatriates during the three-day voting process in the presidential election.

The room resumed its work for the second day to communicate to Egyptians abroad, while the minister recommended to keep communicating with the National Elections Authority (NEA) to answer all citizens inquiries.

The room has received 190 inquiries since Friday, according to the ministry’s statement on Saturday, most of them were asking about the possibility of voting at one of Egyptian embassies even if they don’t have a residency permit in the foreign country.

Other inquiries regard the places of polling stations and the needed documents. Egyptians in Kurdistan expressed concerns over not being able to go to Egyptian embassy in Baghdad due to conflict between the region and the federal government. Meanwhile, other calls were from Egyptians abroad offering their help to facilitate the electoral process.

Most of the inquiries came from citizens in Belgium, Russia, U.S., Canada, Jordan, KSA, UAE, Qatar, Italy, Australia and the UK.

According to the statement, the numbers are: 01289850655, 01008113352, 01553486360 and 01128856655. It also provided an email for receiving complaints: Egyptiansabroad@emigration.gov.e.

Egyptian embassies in 124 countries opened their doors on Friday at 9 am to voter to cast their votes on the first day of the presidential election, to choose between two candidates; the current President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Moussa Mostafa Moussa.

Minister Makram praised the high turnout in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan.

In her statements to Extra News channel, Makram described the turnout in the three Arab countries as “delightful,” adding that the countries have provided facilities for Egyptian nationals to participate in the elections.

Immigration Minister Makram said that she met personally with officials in Jordan and Kuwait to enable Egyptian workers to cast their vote in the election during the three days.

In Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian community organized massive campaigns, organizational committees and voluntary task teams to assist in the 2018 presidential election in the Saudi kingdom and to encourage Egyptian expatriates into heading to the Egyptian embassy in Riyadh and the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah to cast their ballots.

The Egyptian community also made preparations for health care units, provided polling stations with wheelchairs for the elderly and the disabled, juices and beverages and formed organizational committees to assist voters.
The community also launched a social media campaign to encourage Egyptian expats to participate and cast their ballots.

The Egyptian embassy in New Zealand was the first to open to the electorate, given the 11-hour time difference with Cairo.

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