Egypt starts voting in first stage of House elections
>> CAIRO: Polling stations opened yesterday for parliamentary elections in which there was little doubt of a sweeping victory for supporters of hardline President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
Some 63 million voters are eligible to elect 568 of the 596 lawmakers in the lower house, widely seen as a rubber-stamp body for executive policies.
The remaining deputies will be appointed by former army general-turned-president Mr Sisi, whose government has over the past six years silenced any serious political opposition to its rule.
The elections will be held in two phases, with the first covering 14 provinces yesterday and today. The second, on Nov 7-8, will cover 13 provinces including Cairo.
Billboards and banners have sprung up across the bustling capital and elsewhere urging Egyptians to head to the polls.
Many of the candidates also stood for election five years ago in a political landscape marked by the presence of dozens of parties with little weight and influence on the ground.
The outgoing parliament, elected in 2015, was packed with Mr Sisi supporters and featured only a small opposition bloc known as 25/30.
The new parliament will be the second to convene under Mr Sisi, who took office in 2014 after leading the military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Run-offs will be held in November, and final results are to be announced in December.
Over 4,000 candidates, believed to be mostly pro-government, are competing for 284 of the 568 seats reserved for individuals. Meanwhile, eight party lists are also running for the remaining 284 seats.
Among the top contenders is a political coalition known as the Unified National List, led by the pro-government Mostakbal Watan, or Nation’s Future, Party.
Mr Sisi’s government has for years launched a severe crackdown on dissent, ensnaring journalists, bloggers, lawyers and intellectuals. Protests have been effectively banned under a restrictive 2013 law, and a renewable state of emergency has been in place since 2017.