CAIRO: Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly called on voters to take part in the presidential election to help convey the stability of the state, after casting his own vote in the poll on Sunday.
Egyptians began voting on Sunday in an election which is set to hand Abdel Fattah El-Sisi a third term in power.
The prime minister highlighted the importance of the country’s people exercising their constitutional right.
There was a large turnout at polling stations in all governorates, according to the National Elections Authority.
El-Sisi is competing against three other candidates: Abdel-Sanad Yamama, head of the Wafd Party, the oldest free political group in the country; Hazem Omar, head of the Republican People’s Party; and Farid Zahran, head of the Social Democratic Party.
The president traveled to cast his vote while ministers, members of the House of Representatives, and the Senate, also voted.
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that participating in the election was a national duty and responsibility after casting his vote.
Justice Minister Omar Marwan said he was delighted at the early turnout at the polling stations, within hours of their opening.
Marwan, who was speaking after casting his vote, stressed the importance of the people’s positive and active participation in the electoral process.
People had begun arriving at the election committees in the Cairo Governorate about an hour before the polls opened.
The National Elections Authority said that it had received several complaints due to crowding.
Arrangements were made with the authorities to solve the problem and make the voting process easier, it added.
Voting, which is taking place from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., is spread over three days, with results due to be announced on Dec. 18.
The government’s media body has called the election a step toward political pluralism.
“I will vote for El-Sisi, of course. I love him,” said Nabia Ahmed, a 65-year-old mother of four who was voting in Bahr Al-Azam Street in Giza.
“I always vote for presidents. I am voting because I want security for my children.”
A school named after a deceased soldier — and in which pictures of victims of attacks were displayed — was being used as a polling station in El-Arish in northern Sinai, where the military has extended its control after battling militants.
Leila Awad, a local Education Ministry official who was part of a large group of civil servants which had attended the site to vote, said that El-Sisi had “secured our area for us. We have seen the most blood spilled. The least we can do is vote for him.”
