Egypt parliamentary polls marred by low turnout
A significantly low turnout of about 28 percent has overshadowed the first parliamentary elections in Egypt since 2013 when the military ousted former president Mohamed Morsi.
Egypt’s Electoral Supreme Committee said about 15 million people out of a total of some 53 million eligible voters had cast their votes in the parliamentary polls that took place over a period of more than six weeks.
The latest figure, compared with the turnout of over 54 back in the 2011 parliamentary elections, was a record low for Egypt.
Egyptians went to the polls in two phases, with the main one staged on October 18-19 and the other held on November 22-23. The first round witnessed a turnout of 26.6 percent. Days later, a run-off was held, producing an even lower participation of 21.7 percent.
The new parliament is set to be inaugurated in the capital Cairo later this month.
The new 596-member parliament is expected to feature the politicians who firmly back President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition which won almost half of the seats in the parliament in 2011, had been banned from the vote. Supporters of several other political factions had also boycotted the elections.
Egypt’s last general election was held in 2011, months after the revolution that ousted the country’s then dictator, Hosni Mubarak.
However, the resulting Brotherhood-dominated parliament was dissolved in June 2012, days before Morsi became the country’s first democratically-elected president. Morsi, however, was toppled a year later by Sisi, the then army chief.
The military-backed government in Cairo has been engaged in suppressing supporters of Morsi and the Brotherhood since the summer of 2013. The clampdown has led to the death of more than 1,400 people and the arrest of 22,000 others.
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