Egypt starts vote counting in parliamentary polls

Xinhua

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The vote counting in the two-day first stage of Egypt's parliamentary polls has started on Monday evening after polling stations closed at the 14 concerned provinces as aired on the Egyptian state TV.

"The High Election Committee has not announced any turnout rates so far," said the committee's spokesman Omar Marwan in a press conference following the closure of ballots.

Some 27 million Egyptians are eligible to vote in the first stage cover 14 provinces out of the country's 27. The second and final state for the other 13 provinces will be held on Nov. 22 and 23.

The turnout is expected to be much lower than the previous 2011/2012 parliamentary elections held after the ouster of former long-time leader Hosni Mubarak, where the turnout rate exceeded 54 percent.

The first stage of the polls includes 2,548 individuals and seven lists contesting for 286 seats representing more than 50 percent of those of the coming parliament.

The voting process took place in 5,460 polling stations amid tightened security with some 16,000 judges supervising the polls.

The two-day elections that kicked off Sunday mark the third and final phase of the country's future roadmap to democracy declared by then-army chief and now President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on the removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests.