Amb. to UAE expects high voter turnout in presidential elections

CAIRO – 13 March 2018: The past experiences confirm that Egyptian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates are keen on voting in the presidential election, which urges the Egyptian mission to get fully prepared for welcoming a large number of voters, Egyptian Ambassador to UAE Wael Gad told Egypt Today.

The Egyptian mission at the UAE begins its early preparations for the 2018 presidential election,set to take place from March 16 -18 abroad, through setting the polling stations, coordinating with state authorities and communicating with Egypt’s concerned entities to supply the mission with necessary needs to facilitate the electoral process abroad.

Gad added that the Egyptian Embassy promotes full participation in the election on various social media platforms, continuously publishes the decisions of the National Election Authority (NEA) on its website and urges Egyptian expatriates to practice their rights in participating in the election to convey a positive message to the world.

He further remarked that the embassy, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has also set up air-conditioned tents for the voters and assigned a team from the mission to assist older people during the election.

He pointed out that the embassy will receive the voters from Friday - Sunday from 9 AM to 9 PM (UAE local time); a voter should have his/her identity card or passport and his/her name should be listed in the voters' database to be able to participate. Those who have identity cards with the address "living abroad" will not be able to vote based on the NEA decisions.

Previously, Foreign Minister's Deputy Hamdi Loza, who oversees the elections for Egyptians abroad, said that the first polling station to open its door for the voting process will be in New Zealand at 10 PM (Cairo local time) on Thursday.

In a phone call to Al-Hayat Al-Youm, Loza said that all foreign missions have been provided with electronic scanners so voters’ ID cards and passports can be quickly scanned, noting that the whole voting process for expatriates will be monitored by surveillance cameras linked with an operations room at the Foreign Ministry.

He added that the Foreign Ministry held training courses for committees that will supervise voting abroad under the auspices of the National Elections Authority (NEA).
Loza called on Egyptians abroad to participate in the presidential election, which will begin on March 16 and last for three days.

In 2017, the government estimated the number of Egyptians living abroad at 9.4 million.

NEA, headed by counselor Lashin Ibrahim, announced on February 24 the final list of candidates for Egypt’s upcoming presidential election includingPresident Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and MoussaMoustafaMoussa, head of Al-Ghad Party.

Sisi showed his intention to run for president during his closing speech at the end of the three-day “Tale of a Homeland” conference, where the president and the Egyptian government presented an overview of the projects and achievements accomplishedin different fields during the last four years.