No penalties imposed on non-participants in the vote: Abdel Aal

CAIRO – 26 March 2018: Egyptian voter turnout thus has been “promising,” stated Speaker of the Parliament Ali Abdel Aal on Monday. Accordingly, he added that no penalties shall be imposed on non-participants.

In press remarks on the first day of the presidential election, Abdel Aal added that he himself monitored the presidential voting as it commenced at 9 a.m. on Monday.

“The intensive participation of Egyptians in the vote sends a positive message to the world, and confirms that the Egyptian people are united and keen to attend to their national duty,” he remarked.

About 59, 780, 138 eligible voters are set to cast their ballots in 13,706 sub-committees across 367 general polling stations.

Some 18, 000 judges have been deployed to monitor the electoral process, along with 11,000 election officials appointed to ensure voting procedures are followed.

Egyptians headed to the polls to pick their next president, whether it is current president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi or last-minute candidate of Al-Ghad Party, Moussa Moustafa Moussa.

Fifty four local organizations, nine international organizations, and 680 foreign correspondents received permits to observe the electoral process in Egypt.
The winner presidential candidate is due to swear in this coming June.