Polls close on the first day of the second phase of the House of Representatives elections

 The sub-polling committees closed their doors at exactly 9 pm today, Monday, in most electoral centers, on the first day of the House of Representatives elections in the governorates of the second phase. And the work continued until all of them were able to cast their votes in the elections.

 

The advisors to the State Litigation Authority and the Administrative Prosecution Authority, the heads of the subcommittees that were closed, wrote minutes of procedures in which they confirmed the numbers of those who cast their votes on the first day of the elections, and the numbers of voting cards that were not used.

After the end of voting for the last citizens present inside the precincts of the electoral centers, the advisors supervised the heads of the subcommittees, The process of closing the ballot boxes with the secure code locks designated for this purpose, closing all the doors and windows at the headquarters of those committees, placing the necessary seals on top of them – specifically prepared for this matter – and leaving them under strict security guard by the police forces charged with securing the electoral centers, provided that the committees resume their work again as of nine o’clock tomorrow morning, on the second day of voting. 

The second phase of the parliamentary elections includes 13 governorates, namely: Cairo And Qalyubia, Dakahlia, Menoufia, Gharbia, Kafr El-Sheikh, Sharqia, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai, and South Sinai.

The number of voters who are eligible to cast their votes is 34 million, 611 thousand and 991 voters distributed among 73 electoral districts that include 5,287 sub-polling committees, while the number of candidates running in the competition under the individual system at this stage is 1,316 candidates are competing for 141 individual seats, in addition to one electoral list in the East Delta sector, the Cairo sector, and the south and center of the Delta, for the seats allocated to the electoral list system.

The National Elections Authority had confirmed that a number of electoral committees in a group of governorates witnessed, over the course of hours today, a large and noticeable turnout by voters to participate and cast their votes.

And the conduct of the matter was regular. Voting has been held since the start of the election day in the vast majority of polling stations, and no obstacles have been recorded affecting the course of the electoral process in the various governorates of the second phase. The Central Operations Room of the National Elections Authority, headed by Counselor Ahmed Bandari, Director of the Executive Body of the Authority, has been in constant communication around the clock with the heads of the follow-up committees and the general committees, to ensure the regularity of all procedures and the absence of any obstacles to the conduct of the electoral process.

The electoral process is being conducted under follow-up by many missions of international organizations, most notably: The League of Arab States, the African Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab Organization for Electoral Administrations, and the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, along with local civil society organizations and local, Arab and international media.

• For more: Follow Khaleejion 24 Arabic, Khaleejion 24 English, Khaleejion 24 Live, and for social media follow us on Facebook and Related