Voting concluded on Monday in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, amid government concerns over low turnout in a vote that is expected to strengthen the political clout of President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.
A low turnout would undermine Mr. Sisi’s claim over popular enthusiasm for his vision, which has touted the parliamentary vote as the final step in a “road map to democracy” he laid out as he announced the military coup that ousted Egypt’s first freely elected president in 2013.
Early poll numbers released on Sunday have shown anemic participation by youth voters who are widely viewed as being the engine behind the 2011 revolt and whose support Mr. Sisi explicitly courted in a statement on Saturday ahead of the election.
Monday marked the second day of voting in the first round of the staggered poll, covering 14 provinces, including the cities of Alexandria and Giza.
Balloting will resume in November with Egypt’s remaining 13 provinces, including the capital Cairo, going to the polls to elect the country’s first parliament in three years.
Final results are expected in December.
A lackluster 2% turnout on the first day of voting was reported late Sunday, leading the government to give state employees a half day off work on Monday to encourage them to go vote.
Alexandria’s governor announced that public transportation would be free for several hours on Monday until polls closed at 9 p.m. local time.
Unlike in previous elections, the High Elections Committee didn't release official voter participation numbers on Monday.
The last-minute measures to drum up turnout underscored the government’s concern over the apparent lack of enthusiasm by the public for a vote that most observers expect will hand Mr. Sisi a loyalist legislature.
The president’s largest and most-organized opponents, such as the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the secular April 6 Movement, have been banned from participating in politics since the former military chief assumed power following the 2013 military coup in that unseated the first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi. Mr. Morsi was a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader when he was elected the year before.
In their place, new parties and electoral coalitions have emerged, explicitly stating their support for Mr. Sisi and his security-minded policies. Egypt’s electoral law was changed this year to allow the majority of the legislature’s 568 seats to be contested by individual candidates.
The law has been criticized by reform-minded parties as favoring hopefuls with deep pockets, typically business and media elites and figures from the nearly 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who stepped down in 2011 after large street protests.
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ByTAMER EL-GHOBASHY. http://www.wsj.com/articles/first-round-of-egyptian-parliamentary-elections-ends-1445281201
An election monitor sits next to ballot boxes at a polling station in Fayoum, Egypt, Monday. PHOTO: EMAN HELAL/ASSOCIATED PRESS